


Iron Honeymoon

by kaotic312



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Other characters as they occur
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-09 14:47:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11671239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaotic312/pseuds/kaotic312
Summary: Gajeel and Levy are on a job.  They are undercover, and possibly under the covers.  Will they kill each other or find a reward beyond that of the job they were hired to do?





	1. New job

**Author's Note:**

> This story begins almost right after the seven-year gap of Tenrou Island, and before any other story arc begins.

"Are you going to rust?" Little Asuka Connell asked with a curious smile as she stood on a stool outside of the Fairy Tail Guild Hall. She eyed the soaking wet Iron Dragonslayer with a fair amount of awe, losing interest in the toy target she was trying to set up. The thrill of seeing the legends of her Fairy Tail guild come back to life still hadn't worn off. The little girl trailed after the returning wizards eagerly. They and all the highest ranking members of Fairy Tail had been in suspension magic for seven years, why that was longer than Asuka had been alive!

Reedus doffed his tall hat to the child with a murmured greeting even as Gajeel walked past her without acknowledgement. "He's just feeling a bit grumpy."

Asuka hummed under her breath. Reedus was always nice, but she knew him. The Dragonslayer on the other hand was something else entirely. Her whole existence she'd heard her parents and the other wizards remaining behind talk about their larger-than-life friends and guild-mates.

The water mage trailed behind the two others looking dejected. Asuka stuck her finger out and poked Juvia, a bit disappointed that her finger didn't sink into her. Hadn't she overheard her mother talk about this wizard having a body made up of water? Suddenly Asuka's eyes widened. Her finger was wet! Her little mouth formed a perfect circle of amazement and delight.

Mirajane looked up from the bar area with a smile that didn't dim as she took stock of each member's condition. "Welcome back! Successful mission?" She asked her eyes going over the Dragonslayer's surly demeanor and Juvia's dejected aura. Her pretty eyes settled on the older wizard, Reedus, instead. Indeed these three didn't usually pair up together, but the job had required someone with pict magic and in Fairy Tail, that meant taking Reedus.

Normally neither Gajeel nor Juvia would have taken such a job, but they needed the money. With everyone simply vanished they'd come back to find that each of them owed seven years worth of back rent. Or storage fees for those whose apartments had been reclaimed and their personal items put away.

In that time Fairy Tail, without its leaders or any of its higher ranking wizards around, had sunk in status to the lowest guild in the land. Any of the lands. That meant the job offers had dwindled and that meant that until they could reclaim their former glory that high ranked wizards, even Dragonslayers, were working for very little.

Gajeel turned away toward his regular seat only to find it missing. Not taken by someone else sitting there. It was simply gone. He started to scowl. Looking around he noticed belatedly that all the usual chairs were missing. "What the hell?"

"Most everyone is out on jobs and I thought it would be a good time for some deep cleaning." Mirajane beamed without apology.

"Whatever." Gajeel climbed onto the table and sat cross-legged as he propped his chin in his hand which in turn rested on his knee. "Beer." He ordered in a gravel rough voice.

"Oh dear." Mirajane apologized for this at least. "I'm so sorry. Cana drank up the last of our reserves yesterday. We ordered more, it should be here in another hour or so. You see, the standing order for the guild was cut down when Cana was off on Tenrou Island like the rest of us. With her missing for seven years there wasn't the need to order so much I guess, and when we came back they didn't think to increase the order." Her smile brightened. "How about some juice?"

Gajeel sighed. "Whatever."

"Or how about a glass of water?" She suggested as Juvia drew up next to Reedus, watching.

Another scowl from the Iron Dragonslayer. "I've had enough of water." His tone fairly dripped with sarcasm, just like his black vest dripped water onto the table.

"Oh dear." Mirajane said again, blinking as she turned to Reedus and Juvia for any kind of explanation. "Did the mission fail?"

"Non, non." Reedus reassured her. "It just …got a bit messy."

The indigo-haired wizard drooped, hanging her head in shame. "Juvia is so sorry, she did not mean to douse you Gajeel."

Mirajane's gaze flew between the two, both relative newcomers to their guild from the destroyed Phantom Lords. She knew them to be good friends and comrades. Her hand daintily covered her mouth as she watched.

"Stop speaking in third-person." Gajeel snapped, his red eyes flashing angrily. "It was cute once, but now it just grates."

Juvia bowed, hanging her head even lower.

Mirajane's gaze sought out Reedus as the older mage put the job flyer on the bar counter along with a bag holding their payment. He sighed. "Gajeel mentioned that there were gray skies over toward the town of Lucia to the east. Juvia thought he said that Gray's eyes were toward Lucy."

At hearing this Mirajane's eyes widened comically as she quickly nodded in understanding. Every guild member knew of Juvia's crazed crush on Gray Fullbuster, and her unwarranted jealousy of any female even remotely close to him.

"Juv …I …I am really sorry, Gajeel."

The Iron Dragonslayer slid his eyes over toward her and he must have decided enough was enough. "Forget it." He muttered, dismissing the soaking as trivial.

"We did expect you yesterday." Mirajane said quietly.

"We walked." Reedus moaned, sitting down on the steps leading upstairs. "Heard there were some bandits on the road back here to Magnolia and decided to try and see if we could flush them out. Alas, no one attacked."

"Gray took them out already." The white-haired beauty remarked with a smile.

Gajeel groaned and shook his head, still a bit disgruntled as long wet hair whipped around him.

Juvia, however, beamed joyously. "Of course my love already took care of it! He's so marvelous and so strong!" She clasped her hands in front of her, and if you were a dreamy sort of person then there might have been little hearts floating around her head.

Gajeel said something rude which Juvia ignored, gone from dejection to the clouds of love. Or at least, obsession. "Any new jobs come in?" He asked hopefully.

Mirajane hesitated. "Well, technically Team Shadow Gear already called for it."

"Aw! Come on!" Gajeel barked at her. "Those dolts don't need the money, they've been here for the past seven years!"

"Not Levy." Mirajane pointed out quite reasonably, mentioning the Solid Script wizard who'd been on Tenrou Island like the rest of them. "She could really use the money."

"Pfft. Fine." Gajeel made a fist and pointed his thumb at his exposed chest, framed by the long black vest he habitually wore. "I'll escort her. Juvia too. Hey, Juv …well, where the hell did she go?"

"Gray." Reedus, Mirajane, and even little Asuka all said at the same time.

"Whatever, tell Levy I'm taking her on this job and she can ditch Team Losers." He said of Jet and Droy.

Again, Mirajane hesitated. "Er. It's a particular kind of job. Requires discretion. Subtlety. Detection."

"Pfft. That's where Levy comes in." Gajeel pointed out with some reasonableness of his own. "I'll be the muscle."

"Uhm." The always-chipper Mirajane sighed almost unhappily. "You'd have to be able …."

"Anything Team Losers could do, so can I!" Gajeel thumped his chest this time, grinning so widely he revealed the points of both fangs in his white smile.

"To pretend to be normal." Mirajane finished her sentence with a rush, then eyed him as if the Dragonslayer might be angered by her words.

Raucous laughter was his response.

"First of all …it's Team Shadow Gear, and my friends are not losers." Levy's voice cut through the room like a blade.

Gajeel grinned even wider as he answered. "So, we're finally friends then, cuz I ain't no loser!" He turned and then his eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open impossibly low. "What the HELL?"

Levy stood there, short and cute as ever, and pregnant as all get out.

In an instant Gajeel was on his feet, fists raised and fire nearly pouring off of him. "Who, what, when, HOW?"

"It's a disguise, dolt." Jet said smugly, his arms crossed over his chest. Droy grinned, his shirt stretching over his wide girth in a vain effort to close. The buttons had to be sewn on with industrial wire to keep from snapping under the pressure, in Gajeel's estimation.

"And if you don't know how, there are some books I could lend you." Levy said sarcastically.

Gajeel quieted, stared, and then sneered. "You have books on the subject? Pfft. I could tell you all you need to know. One stop research."

Jet and Droy nearly fell over themselves as they went sheet-white, standing head and foot over their diminutive teammate. These three were Team Shadow Gear. A team cut to the quick when Levy had been picked for the S-class trials on Tenrou Island seven years ago, and she hadn't chosen either of them for her partner. That had been Gajeel. Something that still ate at both men.

Seven years ago they'd been in love with her, then they'd had to mourn her. Now she was back, and to her it was if no time had passed. She hadn't even aged. Jet and Droy on the other hand, had. All three were still adjusting the 'the return' as it were. Their devotion to Levy though, that hadn't changed. Not one iota.

"What's the job?" Gajeel grinned menacingly and cracked his knuckles.

"Disappearing couples. In Burlone." Mirajane mentioned a town a long train ride away.

Gajeel nodded slowly. "Never been there."

"Hardly would I think so." Levy said dryly, pushing her blue hair back behind the flowered headband she was currently wearing. "It's a honeymoon destination. A place that welcomes runaway couples and marries them quick. A town for lovers."

Jet smiled at Levy. "Just the place for us."

Droy shoved Jet aside. "Back off, I'll pretend to be her husband."

"I wouldn't pretend." Jet avowed.

As the two fought behind her, Levy stepped forward and stared up at Gajeel. He stared back at her. Not a word was spoken between them until he suddenly laughed rather darkly. "Knocked you up, did I?"

Levy frowned at him. "I think this disguise is too much. I believe we should be running off to get married because I just found out I was pregnant."

Gajeel grunted, eying the baby bump she was sporting. It was oversized for her petite frame. When he wasn't standing on tables she barely came up to his chest. "Works for me."

"WAIT!" Jet protested, his hand spread wide in Droy's face, his own expression looking horrified. "Levy, you can't let him be your husband, he tried to kill you!"

"If I'd tried, she would be dead." Gajeel said smoothly, though on the inside he cringed a bit at the memory of his first meeting with Levy. As a member of the Phantom Lord guild he had indeed attacked her and her teammates. And left them pretty injured, marked, and hanging from a tree like a sacrifice.

Then when the Phantom Lords had been broken and dispersed, Master Makarov had gone so far as to invite him to join Fairy Tail. The only thing the Master hadn't forgiven? The injuries to his 'children', his guild members. With every job, with every fight, Gajeel was paying them back and everyone had eventually come around to accept he and Juvia as part of their family.

But the memory of Levy strung up on that tree still haunted him, though he'd never admit it aloud.

Since then he'd stepped in front of an attack meant to devastate her, and become her partner in the prestigious s-class trials. Now it looked like he was going to be her other half. Gajeel grinned. "I can make that bump real." He insinuated. He might owe her, but that didn't mean he'd turned nice. No, not him.

Levy sneered. "We have a lot of planning to do." She walked away, trusting him to follow. He did, still damp and still hungry and still grinning like a fool.

Jet and Droy watched the duo move off with a sense of foreboding doom. They slumped to the floor, supporting each other as they nearly wept.

Asuka tugged on Reedus' coat. "What's wrong with them?" She asked sweetly.

The tall pict magic wizard sighed and shook his head. "They lost a very important battle to them."

"What battle? I didn't see anyone fight!" The little girl asked so innocently.

Reedus and Mirajane shared a look between them as they both turned away, leaving the remnants of Team Shadow Gear to console themselves.

"I'll see if I can speed up the beer delivery." Mirajane called out to anyone who cared.

Reedus looked down at Asuka's confused face, wondering just how to explain this to someone not even seven yet. "Oh dear." Then he smiled sadly. "Ask your mother." He said, blatantly passing the responsibility onto someone else.


	2. To the train!

"We need to be at the train station by noon and you're not even packed!" Levy scolded the much taller Dragonslayer, her hands on her hips as she glared up at him.

Gajeel's eyes were closed as if he couldn't be bothered, his own arms across his wide chest as yawned without covering his mouth.

Jet and Droy both sneered at him, as if disgusted by his lack of good manners though not surprised. They'd spent the entire morning trying to talk Levy into letting one or both of them pose as her husband to no avail. She'd instead gone to Erza for packing advice and neither male was stupid enough to barge in on that.

Master Makarov sat on the bar with his arms and legs both crossed, watching everything while appearing to be bored. He wasn't. Mirajane leaned over the bar beside him, watching avidly, and openly. "Are you sure this is the best course of action?" He asked.

"See!" Jet pointed at the older man and the guild's mentor and basic father figure. "He doesn't think the two of you belong together!"

"Bad idea!" Droy waved his hands in front of him like a giant X.

"I meant taking the noon train." Makarov clarified. "There's an express train earlier than that one." His words left both male members of Team Shadow Gear on the floor in a small heap of dejection.

Levy blushed slightly and shook her head, her lips firming. "We are supposed to playing a runaway couple without family support. The express train costs three times as much. And we might be able to mingle with some other couples heading in the same direction, get some intel."

Jet and Droy, near tears, both nodded in support of Levy. "She's so smarrrrt." They echoed one another.

"It means more time together, just the two of you." Mirajane piped up sweetly, her voice not insinuating anything, merely pointing out the obvious.

"If you think I want to spend extra time with Gajeel you may move your thoughts along." Levy lifted her chin haughtily.

"Same for me, sweetheart." The endearment was said with utter sarcasm and bite. Gajeel looked down his nose at the petite wizard who would be pretending to be his wife. That was easy, as she was over a foot shorter than he. Barely came up to the upper swell of his chest. In boots.

Gray Fullbuster, the guild's resident Ice-Make wizard, laughed while appearing uninterested as he leaned back in his chair across from the bar. "Gajeel, you're supposed to be going undercover as a runaway groom. On his honeymoon. You need more than the clothes on your back, especially as ragged as that tunic is right now."

Red eyes flashed as Gajeel cut a look in the other wizard's direction even as he lifted a small bag barely large enough for a trip to the grocers. "I have a change."

"Of what? Underpants?" Gray sniffed derisively.

"Don't wear those." Gajeel teased darkly but in such a way that no one could tell if he was kidding …or not.

Levy, her mouth open to yell at him again, starting coughing as she nearly swallowed her tongue at the very thought. Her eyes went to his loose cut tan trousers and then away again, lest she be caught looking.

Behind one of the room's pillars poor Juvia, who'd been secretly watching Gray like any good stalker or obsessed fangirl, immediately pictured HER love without underpants. The water girl nearly went up in steam at the mental image. She was glad she was in hiding so no one could see her.

Everyone else in the bar area ignored Juvia, for she was not nearly as secretive as she'd like to think.

"Before you go, Gajeel, I found a pile of scrap iron out back of the guild hall this morning. Feeling hungry?" Master Makarov asked, alluding to the fact that the Iron Dragonslayer routinely ate iron in order to fuel his particular magic.

Interestingly, the dark-haired wizard full of piercings and muscles, blushed slightly as he shook his head. "Can't eat my own iron." Much like any of the Dragonslayers and their magic-affinity, what they themselves produced through magic could not act as fuel for them. It had to come from an outside source.

"You made a mess out there, son." The Master said with a mixture of grumpiness and fondness.

"Rings." Gajeel snorted softly as he marveled at how Makarov had accepted him into the guild, despite how he'd participated in the attempted destruction of Fairy Tail. "You'll need rings to carry this out. I mean we, have to look the part."

Mirajane brightened. "I have my parent's rings, they'll be just the thing. Only I need to get my sibling's approval. Oh, and I don't know if they'll fit!"

"Wakaba could lend you his." Gray said then shook his own head. "He rarely acts as if he's married anyway."

"No." Makarov said with some finality in his voice. "Never you mind how the man acts, I know for a fact he goes home to his wife every night he's not working. And SHE would never lend us her ring, much less his."

"Have you seen the way Wakaba stares at Juvia?" Gray asked, making the hidden girl behind him nearly swoon at the thought that he cared. "Or at Lucy's chest?"

Juvia, caught in mid-bliss, nearly went up like a volcano at the thought that GRAY had noticed Lucy even had a chest.

"Erza. Laki. Cana." Gray shrugged. "No one is safe."

"I am." Levy said trying not to sound distraught. Not that she wanted Wakaba's notice, only that even a letch like that didn't spare her a look. She was more than a little shy in the bosom department compared to her teammates.

"No you're not." Makarov said. "You have a terrific backside my girl." He then stilled as he noticed a deep, rumbling growl. He turned placating eyes onto Gajeel with some surprise. "Everyone has seen him looking, how did you not see that?"

"Because he was too busy looking himself." Jet mumbled miserably, pointing out the embarrassingly obvious.

Levy blushed and shook her head, putting the whole thing down as friends trying to comfort her. If she was a bit warm under the skin at the thought of Gajeel noticing anything about her that was enticing, then that was her business alone. "The fact remains that Gajeel is right, we need rings. It's on my list, but I was hoping to borrow something from someone."

"Here." Gajeel mumbled. "Was going to give these out later, but since you're so hung up on it."

Everyone blinked and then moved to get a better view. The Iron Dragonslayer was holding out one hand with two rings resting on the open palm. He himself wasn't looking, appearing as if he didn't care one way or another how the rings were accepted. In fact, Gajeel just looked bored with it all. Still his hand was stretched out toward Levy with two rings. Iron rings.

Makarov flicked a glance at Gajeel's face in speculation, reading the disinterest as what it was, fake. At least now he knew why there was a pile of scrap metal out back this morning. The Iron Dragonslayer had been hard at work, and it looked like he'd put quite a lot of effort and thought into it as well. "Hmmm."

The first ring was rather plain at initial inspection, until looking deeper. Dark iron, but as Levy, and everyone else leaned in, there were even flattened areas circling the band almost like facets on a jewel. They reflected light in an understated way and there was the lightest fletching around each one that could only be described as a design. Dragon scales, that's what they looked like. This was his, obviously, being far too big and heavy to even fit Levy's thumbs. It would have fallen right off.

The second ring was much more feminine and small. Wire thin, but no one was fooled by the delicate appearance of the metal. There was strength in the iron as it formed a leafy vine that twisted smoothly around and around thrice before forming a setting like the opening of a flower. In the middle of the setting was a strange, light blue stone that seemed to shimmer as the light caught it.

No one said a word, indeed Levy and Mirajane weren't breathing as they both stared.

Gajeel's face reddened along his sharp cheekbones, though he still wasn't looking at their reactions. "It's nothing special." He sneered to no one.

"Where did find larimar?" Makarov asked, something paternally satisfied in his tone.

"It's not a gem stone or nothing." Gajeel deflected as he shrugged. "Just a pretty rock I found back on Tenrou island." He didn't say how the color and shine had reminded him of Levy for no reason that he could pinpoint. It didn't match her hair or eye color, but something about the shimmer seemed fairy like and delicate despite it being a stone. "You don't have to wear it if you don't like it."

As the Dragonslayer started to draw back his hand he found himself robbed. The rings were suddenly gone and Levy was holding them both while giving him a good long glare. "Don't you dare demean them, they're beautiful!" She knew, just knew that he'd made them out of iron he'd produced from his own body, such was his magic. That meant the designs were his and that thought made her lungs ache somehow.

"Just something for the job." He said defensively. Nothing for the world would he admit to staying up all night making them just so. "No big deal."

Jet and Droy were torn. Rings made this 'wedding' seem too real. But iron was hardly romantic. Then again, Levy seemed pleased and that didn't please the two of them.

Little Asuka rushed into the guild hollering and whooping like children should when happy, her toy gun that was modelled on her father's waving in the air. "Levy, Levy! How long are you going to be gone! There's a MOUNTAIN of luggage that mama says is yours."

"Erza's actually." Levy demurred, shaking her head. They'd been back for a very short time, but the little girl had already made herself a guild favorite.

Seven years was a long time to be missing, especially since only a day passed as far as those caught up in the magic were concerned. One of the biggest shocks was coming back to find guild-mates married and with a beautiful little girl who idolized them already through their parents memories and stories.

"I could go with you!" Asuka said with a bright grin. "If you're pretending to be married I could be your little girl!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa little darling." Alzack said as he sauntered in after his rambunctious offspring. "Don't let your mother know you're looking to replace her."

"It could be my first job for Fairy Tail!" The child called out gleefully and without any dimming to her enthusiasm. She launched herself at Gajeel and the Dragonslayer had to catch her or let the child fall.

Every one of the adults basically froze.

Gajeel stared with overly wide eyes at the grinning face of the little girl who was currently poking her finger at the studs decorating the ridge over his left eye with curiosity.

Levy watched, her nerves settling a bit as she clutched the iron rings in her hand. Gajeel was over six foot of muscle and strength and attitude with long dark untamed hair which suited all of the above. He'd been one of the Phantom Lords, and out of all of that guild he'd been one to basically destroy much of their old hall and even caught and strung up Levy and her teammates. Slowly he'd been settling into life as a member of Fairy Tail, gaining in acceptance little by little though most still held a wariness, a slight distance. But not Asuka.

Bisca and Alzack's child had never met the old Gajeel, had never seen him as an enemy. To her he was one of them, full out. Levy smiled as she saw the other guild members slowly relax as they all listened to Asuka chatter on about the decorations in the Dragonslayer's face.

"Can I have one?" The little girl asked breathlessly, pointing to her own eyebrow.

At this Alzack laughed and at last reached for his daughter, whom Gajeel gratefully passed back. "Maybe when you're much older."

"He said they don't hurt." Asuka protested as she laid her head against her father's shoulder and gave him 'the look' full of woebegone eyes and longing.

Gajeel protested quickly. "They don't hurt ME." He corrected. "It would hurt for you, since you don't have iron magic." He hoped she was old enough to understand. "And they did sting a bit." He added just in case. It wasn't weakness to admit to that, right?

"They'd bleed." Cautioned Alzack who knew his daughter far better than anyone outside of his wife. Asuka immediately withdrew her request. For now. She filed it away for later like a little squirrel.

Gajeel, somewhat wanting to get out of hugging range from Asuka as he was unused to such, moved over to look out the front doors. He scowled. "How much luggage are you taking, sweetheart?" Again, the endearment was sour rather than sweet.

Levy sighed. "It's to blend in. I'm only taking half of Erza's luggage." She defended herself.

"Really?" Gajeel turned and narrowed his gaze on her with a sneer. "Darling wife, we'll be on our honeymoon. The idea is for less clothing, not more."

"Why?" Asuka piped up.

Gajeel froze, having forgotten little ears. He shook his head. "Nevermind." He muttered as Gray smirked at him. He briefly considered punching the Ice-Make wizard across the room but dismissed the impulse as too much effort as it would rouse Juvia and he was finally dried off from their last mission.

"You really do need more than that one change of clothing." Mirajane pointed at his bag. "Why not just run back home and grab a few things? This mission will take over three days by train to even get to Burlone, and then it's undercover work really. Could take at least a month or longer."

Gajeel shrugged, uncaring. "I can get things there."

Levy huffed out a breath, blowing an errant strand of wavy blue bangs out of her face. "More expensive in a resort area. Makes more sense to pack."

Makarov suddenly held up a hand with sudden suspicion. "Gajeel? Boy, I've heard from everyone else about back rent. Some, like Lucy, can't get into their places without paying off that debt. I'm sorry to say the guild coffers can't stretch to pay everyone's shortfall. But I've given out some emergency funds for the basics to those in need."

"I ain't looking for charity!" Barked the Dragonslayer with sudden affronted rage, his red eyes flashing dangerously.

"A loan. No interest. Short-term." Makarov nodded for emphasis.

"Not interested!" Huffed Gajeel, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"Neither was Natsu." The Guild Master shook his head. "Stubborn, pig headed …"

Levy blushed, she hadn't considered this when pushing Gajeel to come up with more luggage. "Actually, Jet and Droy kept my place rented for me. Even dusted. I forget not everyone had such going for them. I owe them for seven years worth of rent."

"Do not!" Jet and Droy both straightened up looking shocked at the very idea of being paid back.

Gajeel growled low in his throat, backing off only as Levy firmly shook her head. "No. I will pay you back every cent, your gift of friendship is more than enough to humble me and I treasure that more than anything in my apartment." She nodded and smiled.

These words nearly destroyed Jet and Droy as she reaffirmed their 'friendship' and nothing further. Mirajane watched the two of them slump into a heap on the floor. To no one she said, "I'll go redouble the bar's order for the week. Looks like it might be needed."

Gajeel nodded in satisfaction though he would have been hard pressed to say why. He took a positive kick out of seeing Jet and Droy brought so low, though he approved their efforts to keep Levy's things safe for the last seven years.

"Are your things being held hostage?" Gray asked curiously. "Mine are too. Though I've paid down the debt enough to have the landlord let me back in for some clothing." He grinned and winked at no one, though Juvia dreamed it was for her alone. "I haven't changed in the last seven years and everything still fits."

"When you bother to wear it." Makarov muttered even as he nodded encouragingly. "And none of us changed, foolish child."

"It was a joke, old man!" Gray snarked without heat.

Juvia raced forward, falling to her knees next to the ice wizard's chair and taking his hands in hers. "Juvia finds your words amusing and quite clever!"

"Juvia needs to stop speaking in third person, I'm bored with it already!"

"But Juvia is not speaking to you!" The blue-haired water wizard chirped unhappily. "Gray loves the way Juvia speaks!"

Gray closed one eye as he considered her words. "Can't say I really care, but it does get a bit old."

"WHAT?!" Juvia nearly fell flat in shock and began begging for Gray's forgiveness.

Levy looked back and forth between Gray and Gajeel, not immune to Juvia's crush but knowing better than to interfere. "You know, the two of you are the same height just about. I'll bet you could borrow some clothes from Gray."

"Like hell." The Ice-Make wizard shook his head. "I only have a few things until I finish another job and pay back some more to my landlord."

Levy walked over and picked up Gray's discarded shirt and vest, folding them neatly. "Thank you."

Bare chested, Gray looked around in shock that he'd disrobed once again without thought or plan.

"Trousers." Levy made a motion at him to continue.

Gray bared his teeth and shook his head. "Never! Juvia! Defend me, tell them they can't have my clothes!"

For once the fangirl had nothing to say, her mouth opening and closing like a hooked fish on land. Of course she'd choose Gray's side in any argument …but if it meant that her beloved would be running around in his boxers she really didn't have much of a problem with it.

Seeing the dilemma Mirajane smiled sweetly. "Juvia? If Gray has no clothes than ALL the girls could see him."

That settled that. Levy blinked, suddenly finding herself holding nothing but air. Gray's clothes were now in the possession of his number one fan. "You! You! You wanted to see my beloved without his shirt! He's mine!" Juvia advanced on Levy who did not back away. "You can't have him!"

"Don't want him." The petite girl said calmly.

"WHAT?! You deny that my Gray is in your sights! Well I can fight your for …." Juvia fell back as suddenly a wall of iron was in front of Levy. She threw a betrayed look at Gajeel, who looked as if he'd not moved a muscle. Yet, realistically, who else could or would have done it?

"Don't want sissy-boy's clothes and we have a train to catch." Gajeel yawned and deliberately turned away from the drama.

Levy rushed to match her steps to his, and he slowed to accommodate her shorter stride. They fell into synch as they left the guild hall.

Mirajane blinked suddenly, then smiled. "I need to ask Cana to read their cards." She said softly.

"Really?" Makarov sounded surprised at her. "Anyone could see where that particular train is heading." He nodded sagely.

Asuka piped up with excitement. "I know, I know!" She held her hand up eagerly.

Her father looked in surprise down at his not-quite-seven year old daughter. "I doubt it."

"The train is going to Burlone!" Asuka provided the answer, not understanding the groans of amusement that met her words. "Well …it is! Isn't it? That's where they're going?" She paused and then leaned into her father as she whispered in the way of children, which is to say, everyone could hear her. "Why are Jet and Droy crying again?"

Outside the guild Gajeel was glaring at the wagon loaded down with suitcase after suitcase. He turned and looked at Levy, running his eyes up and down her petite form. He grunted.

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot with impatience. "What? It's what I need for this mission."

Gajeel gestured toward her and then shook his head in disbelief. "There's hardly anything to you, sweetheart. You're a shrimp in disguise. Clothing for you wouldn't need much fabric cuz there's nothing there! So how come you need so much luggage?"

The Dragonslayer turned to look at her and then nearly fell over himself to apologize without actually saying the words 'I'm' or 'Sorry'. Levy looked pale as a ghost and completely devastated. He wasn't even sure what he'd said that could be that bad.

Levy swayed, feeling awkward, dizzy, and …damn it! She had nearly the same figure as baby Asuka! She didn't have the curves of Juvia, Erza or Lucy but did Gajeel have to mock her for it? Coming to herself she shook her head, firming her lips to glare at the much taller male who was promising to pull the cart of luggage all the way to the train station for her. No fool, she agreed and started walking.

Gajeel, left watching her very fine backside sway as she headed down the road, groaned. He glowered at the cart, but gamely grabbed the handles and pulled. It didn't budge much. Gritting his teeth he managed to get it rolling and momentum helped ease the load as he caught up with his partner.

Silence fell between the two, but instead of awkward, it felt almost intimate. Levy had grown up in a large family, scrambling for any peace and quiet to read in a clan that didn't value either of those things. Then after losing her family to illness brought on by war she'd been consigned to an orphanage. There she'd been lost in a sea of children just like her, only she was too little to be of use, or even noticed. Most often people thought her far younger than her years and treated her like a baby. Peace and quiet were simply not something to be had there.

Magic had bloomed within her and rather than let it be, she'd pursued it. Haunting the only place she knew where knowledge was kept. A library. Fortunately her orphanage was in a large enough town to have a fine university and Levy had snuck in on a daily basis, grabbing onto words like a drowning victim.

Makarov had found her squeezed into a corner with a book larger than she. He'd tried to exchange it for a picture book. She'd asked him highly technical questions about what she didn't understand, which wasn't much. She'd left the library with a new family that day and had never looked back.

Jet and Droy were loves, dear to her heart. Special beyond belief. She'd die for them. But they didn't understand her need for quiet sometimes. Didn't understand needing to watch and observe.

Gajeel.

Like recognized like. She didn't need to know his story, though she'd pieced together a fair portion of it, to realize he was a man comfortable with silence. They weren't the same, on any level. But on this they were in tune.

Quiet stretched out between them. A bird chirped and both looked. A bell pealed out over the area and neither reacted.

Levy finally pointed down a side road leading to some apartments. "Do you want to get anything of your stuff? I have room in the luggage Erza lent me."

"Doesn't feel like it." He muttered, then shook his head. "My landlord doesn't love me like you other Fairies. He didn't save my place for seven years and let the rent pile up. He didn't store my things at all. Threw it out the week after we went missing."

Levy stopped in the middle of the road, appalled. Gajeel grunted as he stopped, the cart pushing him forward a step before it too came to a halt. "It's no big thing."

"Nothing's left?" She sounded horrified, and angry.

Gajeel watched her face, sensing her rising temper, and on his behalf. He grinned. "There wasn't much in the first place."

"But some things." She said with vehemence. "Something." It was a statement and a question.

Gajeel shrugged and turned away. "We need to get moving."

"Yes. We do." Levy turned toward his former apartment with determination, not walking but marching as if off to war.

Gajeel tilted his head, watching her short skirted dress swish around her very fine back end before finally shaking himself free of some rather wicked thoughts. "Yo! Sweetheart. The train is the other way!"

"I know." She said, making him strain to hear her. She turned and gave him a bright smile that boded nothing good. "You go get the luggage stowed and pick up our reservations. I'll meet you there!"

"No!" He yelped, his eyes widening. "Sweetheart! We've got a job to do. There's nothing left anyway."

"I'll meet you at the station!" Levy called back to him.

Gajeel ground his teeth together when a voice came from behind him. "Want me to go with her?"

The Dragonslayer relaxed as he heard Pantherlily's distinct voice. "Aye. You take the luggage, I'll go after her. Wait! Shit! Come back!" Gajeel said some truly bad words as he watched his cat race after his gir….his partner. "Damn it!"

Well. The cart wasn't built for the smaller side streets, damn that Erza and her luggage. And Lily was with Levy, his cat would be able to take care of just about anything, especially his skinny old landlord.

And Levy needed to learn he wasn't going to be rushing off after her on every whim! Yeah! Exactly. He turned toward the train station and cursed under his breath the whole way there.

The reservations were ready for them, as if anyone in this down would dare let Mirajane down. The luggage was stored, and if there was any satisfaction in watching the porters struggle with one bag much less all of the ones he'd dragged all by himself, he didn't say much about it but grinned nastily at them.

He was just about to race off to find his errant partner and cat when they showed up behind him. Gajeel turned with a glare and then nearly sputtered. She was directing the station master to store some boxes and …. "my guitar!"

Levy grinned. "No one throws things out around here, that would be wasteful. I knew he still had to have some of your stuff that he'd not sold." She then shook her head. "There's not much left, I'm afraid. A few trinkets and your guitar."

"I'll write a song in your honor." He avowed.

An oddly strangled look passed over Levy's face as she puckered her lips for a second. "I'd rather you didn't." She said cautiously.

Gajeel was busy rescuing his guitar from the station master and having it added to the luggage going with them to Burlone. Levy sighed heavily, one side of her left eye twitching as she thought about his …'singing'. "Maybe I could have left that." She muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing!" Levy chirped brightly. "Here!"

Gajeel swiped the bag from her, surprised to realize it was a purse. One that wasn't empty. "What's this?" He asked, looking dumbfounded.

"Monies and interest earned from selling your belongings." Levy rose up on her toes, rocking forward and then back again. She crossed her eyes at him and if it wasn't the most adorable thing ever he'd be a rotten egg.

"Interest?" He crooned gleefully.

Levy smirked and turned, walking toward their train before climbing on. "You could have gotten it back." She scolded him slightly.

"When I joined Fairy Tail I promised Makarov that I wouldn't hurt any of the townspeople." Gajeel shrugged.

On the top step of the train Levy turned, glaring down at him. She'd been the first one he'd hurt back then.

He gave her a cheesy grin. "Hey. I'm trying. And that was before I joined your guild."

Levy watched him, trying to read his expression but failing utterly. Finally she gave a soft snort. "We have a change in trains day after tomorrow, we can shop for some clothing for you there."

"This trip just go so much better! I can sing for our supper!" He turned and pushed the porter out of the way to get his guitar out from luggage storage. "I can practice on the train!"

Levy shook her head wildly, her stomach sinking as she sighed in resignation. "Well damn. What have I done?"

"Something good." Pantherlily answered her meant-to-be-rhetorical question. His tail waved in the air as the cat entered the train car before her, finding the most defensively protected seat with the best access to the amenities and the cleanest windows to let the sunshine in to warm them as well a functional shade for when it became too much.

Levy got pushed aside as Gajeel bounded up the stairs into the train car and began arguing with his cat that he needed a seat with the best acoustics instead.

"What have I done?" She whimpered again.


	3. A first kiss?

The train ride was going to last all day and night, with a stop-over tomorrow. It was noon now and the train was pulling out of Magnolia's station. It took Gajeel less than 10 minutes to get bored, bored, bored.

His guitar turned out to be missing some strings and the entire instrument in need of attention. His previous landlord had not taken good care of his purloined possessions it seemed. Disturbed, the Dragonslayer petted and cooed the only thing he owned that meant anything to him.

The trio were not in a private carriage within the train, finding themselves bench seats that faced each other with a small table between them. The train was pretty full but they had the benches to themselves due to the scowls sent toward any brave enough to approach. A few needed accompanying growls though to get the idea to move on elsewhere for a seat.

Now everyone was settling in and stretching out as best they could. Though a few were walking through still seeking better accomodations.

Surreptitiously Levy watched Gajeel from over the top margin of her book. The train bounced a bit stronger, which he barely noticed, of course. Levy, small as she was slid slightly to the left, jostling the curled up Exceed cat, Pantherlily who slitted one eye at her in protest.

"Sorry." Levy mumbled and slid back an inch.

"Cats don't get their own seats." A haughty voice interrupted the trio.

Gajeel blinked up at the fur-dressed matron and sneered. "The cat has his own ticket." He said tersely.

Pantherlily held up the proper documentation without opening his eyes or uncurling his little body resting on the bench seat.

The matron sniffed derisively while her skinny male companion sweated and awkwardly held at least five pieces of animal print luggage. "Animals don't have rights."

"They do, especially when they can talk." Levy reached over, placing on hand on Pantherlily's head in a protective gesture despite the fact that in his battle-form the Exceed towered over her. Right now he was resting in kitty-size though.

"Indeed." The black cat spoke up in a precise accent, looking up and showing his scars and intense stare.

The Matron drew back and puckered as if smelling something off.

Gajeel stood and moved in front of Levy's seat, blocking the view of the interlopers. "Get lost." It wasn't a suggestion.

"You can't hog all the seats!" The Matron responded waspishly. "I have tickets too!"

Gajeel growled low, considering his options. Looking around he saw a full train carriage all watching them. He could easily defeat any of them, but the idea was to be undercover.

Levy's head appeared over his shoulder, startling him until he realized she was standing on the bench seat. "Oh, we're not hogging the seats, but saving them." She smiled sweetly, her natu ral scent teasing his overdeveloped senses. Gajeel wondered if it was her or some sort of product, but it was a scent he'd always associate with only her. Wait. Did she say they were saving the seats? He frowned sharply.

Levy gestured toward a young couple squeezed uncomfortably in beside two burly farmers. She smiled brightly. "There you are!" With that she did something Gajeel had not properly been prepared for. Levy tilted her head and rested her cheek sweetly upon his shoulder and smiled at the Matron. "We just got married."

The matron seemed less than impressed with the pronouncement even as the other young couple hurried over to claim the seat across from Levy with gratitude. "Oh! We just got married too!" She giggled in an annoying way so that Gajeel had to fight not to roll his eyes.

The matron looked back and forth between the two sets of couples and sneered. The other couple looked like they'd grown up on farms, tanned and weathered, fit and healthy, and completely lacking in the finer graces of style or fashion. Her judgmental eye moved back to the tattered tunic of Gajeel, framing his muscular chest but doing nothing to hide it. His magic guild marking clearly visible on one broad bicep. Her nose rose impossibly high in the air as she moved away. "Young ladies should be brought up proper, and choose better! Ruffians and laborers." She actually shuddered.

Gajeel stepped forward only to find that Levy's arms were around his chest. "Let it go." She whispered into his ear.

It wasn't her words that stopped him. It was the flutter of her breath heating the inner folds of his ear. It was her scent. It was her touch that he didn't want to end. His tunic was open, as usual, and her hands flattened onto his bare skin. Gajeel's breath caught in his lungs, almost as if afraid that if he breathed her hands would fall way and stop touching him. He flushed slightly and stepped away from her deliberately. He didn't need anything, never had never would.

Yet now his skin ached from the loss of her touch and he realized his mistake immediately. It was fine. He was male and she was female. It was only natural that he'd enjoy her touch, nothing special. Basic biology, that was all. It could have been anyone and he'd have felt the same.

Gajeel looked over at the young couple perched on HIS bench, then back at Levy and Pantherlily. She had taken the opportunity to scoot over and was now hugging the Exceed cat almost like a stuffed animal. Gajeel's lips twitched unhappily, for his damned cat looked like he was enjoying the situation entirely too much! "Better not be purring." He grumbled as he stepped over her feet and settled into the far corner, propping his back against the corner of the back of the bench and the train wall. He crossed his arms and glared at everyone and no one for good measure.

"Thank you for the seat." The female interloper spoke up hesitantly.

Gajeel grunted and closed his eyes as a signal to leave him alone. Levy smiled. "Oh, it's no problem. We're on the way to our honeymoon too."

Gajeel's fingers twitched. This was a bad idea. Levy's scent was all over him now. Not that it was overpowering, not hardly. It tickled at the edges of his awareness and pressed lightly without tangible weight against his skin where she'd touched him. He ached with the desire to pull her back against him, and then smiled grimly at his mental image of her shriek and protest if he carried through with that wild thought.

Wait. Weren't they supposed to be newlyweds? Gajeel opened his eyes, finding them settling intently upon Levy. The need to touch her intensified. But how to make it happen?

"Sweetheart." Gajeel crooned, interrupting her small-talk with the other couple. His heartrate picked up an extra beat as she turned those cute eyes in his direction. "Let Lily sleep, he won't get any rest with you holding him." He grinned wickedly at her. "And I won't get any rest without holding you."

He saw her stop breathing as her eyes widened upon him. He winked outrageously and tilted his head slightly at the other couple, insinuating they needed to put on a show.

Levy bit her bottom lip, which nearly made Gajeel jump up and grab her. As her husband, would he be allowed to kiss that mouth? His grin both darkened and widened to show off his teeth. It pleased him greatly when Levy lifted her chin at him defiantly.

He watched as she rose, putting the cat down on her already warmed-up spot from her rather fine ass. In fact, his eyes traced the short hemline of her skirt which teased the tops of her thighs. Gajeel hoped that ass would be warming his lap in a moment, and the thought alone made his body stir with interest.

He dropped one leg onto the floor and patted the inner thigh of his other leg in invitation, a leer on his face and fire in his eyes.

Levy shook her head and pushed his other leg off of the bench so that he was sitting up, then she slid onto his lap without any sign of fear or hesitancy. Gajeel's arms opened without thought or command and she sat with her legs hanging off of one side, her back against his arm and her head leaning onto his shoulder.

It would have been sexier, and harder, to have her snuggled between his spread legs, but this wasn't half-bad either. He started when her hand reached for his, wondering what she was up to when she spread his fingers and measured his hand against her own. Gajeel's breath caught at the discrepancy between their sizes. He'd known she was petite in comparison, but the reality was daunting to take in.

His hand dwarfed hers. Her wrist looked entirely too delicate to him. Suddenly he had a memory flashback of stalking her back when he'd been a member of the Phantom Lord guild. The thought soured his stomach and he tightened his fingers around hers protectively.

Not knowing the thoughts in his head. Levy watched the flow of emotion in his eyes. His face gave nothing away, but she was good at reading people, and she knew he was dealing with something even if she didn't know what. "Rings." She said, deliberately trying to break the grip of whatever emotion was bringing him that sad look.

It worked. Gajeel blinked rapidly and then peered into her face. Levy reached into her heart-festooned purse and brought out the rings he'd made for their pretend marriage. He grunted and reached for the larger one.

Levy shook her head, sending a shy look over at the couple on the opposite train bench. They had an audience. "I know we're not used to wearing them yet, but I want the world to know you're mine."

The words were a cover, a lie. They still rubbed Gajeel's emotions raw. No one had ever wanted him. Even his foster-father, the dragon Metalicana had simply left him one day, disappearing. Gajeel had grown up with huge abandonment issues, and even discovering that all the dragons had mysteriously vanished on the same day had done little to heal him. He'd joined the Phantom Lord guild and they'd valued his strength, but hadn't been friends, not really.

Then Makarov had sought him out. His words had been cautious, and yet welcoming. The master had made it clear that Gajeel wasn't forgiven for hurting his 'children', but that we would be accepted as one of Fairy Tail, but the decision was solely his. The Dragonslayer had agreed, not that he'd believed, not really.

But in that time he'd discovered a few things. First. Makarov already had two strong Dragonslayers, and he didn't NEED Gajeel in his guild to lord it over the other guilds. Makarov hadn't used him, but let him find his own way. Jobs were there, but not assigned to expose Gajeel to the public in a way to garner awe or adoration.

Second, the Fairy Tail guild really did treat each other like family. Not just in lip service either. Unlike in the Phantom Lords, every member was cherished, even those that were starting out or not as strong as the others. His old guild wouldn't have tolerated such.

His old guild would have eaten Levy, chewed her up and spit her out. And to Gajeel's deep shame, he'd almost done just that.

Levy wasn't weak, not even slightly. She might have doubts about her abilities, but Master Makarov had elected her for S-class trials, and that wasn't just empty air. Gajeel had seen first hand the stuff she was made of, and he approved.

In the Phantom Lords, however, her gentleness and giving heart would have been seen as deficits. No matter her strength, they'd have wanted to toughen her up or kick her loose.

Right now, at this very moment, when Levy was slipping the heavy iron wedding band over his finger … Gajeel had never been happier to have the Fairy Tail guild mark on his arm. She wanted the world to know he was hers. It was just a job. A ruse. But in this moment, in this place, he was hers. For the first time in his life he felt like he belonged, and no matter how transitory it really was, to him, right now ….it felt real.

While lost within his feelings he noticed when Levy blushed and bit her bottom lip. That's when he realized she'd been holding out the other ring to him. Obviously she was embarrassed when he didn't react and moved to put it on her own finger.

Moving too quickly to see, Gajeel caught her hand in his. Without thought he brought her palm to his mouth and kissed the skin there. He noticed her goosebumps, so close were they right now, as well as the shiver that went through her. He grinned and flipped the ring in the air, catching it neatly as he put it over the tip of her finger.

"What if it doesn't fit?" She suddenly whispered.

Gajeel made a chiding noise. "It fits." He promised, and indeed the ring slid easily down her finger even as it settled snugly in its proper place.

"How?" Levy asked, clearly shocked and yet, there was a smile on her lips.

He shrugged and then pinned her with an intense look. "Wife."

Levy gave him rounded eyes and an unhinged jaw. A supreme tactician, Gajeel wrapped his large hand behind the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss.

Levy panicked. She murmured a solid script spell and wiggled the fingers on both hands.

Gajeel choked and pulled back, shock clearly on his face. He spat out the mouthful of feathers and started plucking them out as quickly as possible.

The other newlywed couple stared in wonder as a shower of duck, geese, and even chicken feathers floated in the air around them.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Levy squealed even as she batted at some of the floating feathers.

Pantherlily jumped up and leapt onto one rather large feather, then started pawing at it with curiousity.

"Bleh!" Gajeel spit out another feather and then glared at Levy as he breathed hard, trying to catch his breath. "We're married! What is wrong with the idea of kissing me?!"

Levy's face turned screaming red. Unfair! He knew she couldn't answer like she wanted, not while in public with their need to remain undercover. She slapped his chest and glared at him. "Not here!"

"Oh, dude. Ladies don't always like public displays." The new husband seated across from them said helpfully.

"I do." Gajeel grumped, glaring at his partner for this job. Suddenly he made a face and opened his mouth, pulling a tiny feather out from between his teeth. "Yuk!"

Levy, her temper riled and feeling the unfairness of it all, did not filter her words. "I know you do. Public display, right under a large tree for everyone to see!"

"Oooh! I sense a story!" The other bride cooed, batting her lashes.

Gajeel and Levy stared at one another, both breathing heavily. Both picturing her strung up on that tree, humiliated and beaten and bearing the mark of the Phantom Lord guild. His fault. All his fault.

Silence stretched out between them, but this time it was emotionally charged. He grunted. "Later."

She nodded and settled back down, playing with the wedding ring now gracing her left hand. Levy started to slide off of his lap.

Gajeel wrapped her up tighter, but didn't try and kiss her again. "What are you reading?" He asked, desperate to move on from the memory of their initial meeting.

"A book." She said, lifting her chin in the air.

"Sounds interesting. Share?"

Surprised, she nodded without thought. "I've read it before, though it's one of my favorites. I'll lend it to you."

Gajeel grinned and winked at her, pulling her in closer to his chest. "No. Share. Read it to me."

She blushed, opened the book and scanned a passage and her face heated even further. She shook her head.

Pantherlily looked up and yawned. "I could listen to a good story." He commented.

The other couple drew back, looking at the talking cat and the guild markings on both their travel companions. "Wizards."

"Fairy Tail." Levy supplied the name sweetly. Just last month, for her, those words would have reassured anyone. Their guild had a reputation as destructive, but protective. Honorable. The finest in Fiore.

The other couple relaxed immediately. "Oh, so not very powerful then."

Both Gajeel and Levy stiffened. They'd forgotten. What was to them only a month ago, was actually seven damned years. In that time Fairy Tail had gone from the highest ranked guild, to the lowest.

With her hand resting on his bare chest, Levy could feel the wild rumble of a growl growing. She shook her head and absently tried to soothe him.

He noticed her petting his chest and stilled in surprise more than anything else.

"Burlone." Levy whispered, though he'd understood without her reminder that they shouldn't raise a fuss. They were on a job.

He grimaced, for it burned, letting others look down on him. Them. Levy didn't deserve their quiet laughter and dismissive thoughts. "We need to reclaim our place."

She nodded, in total agreement. "Not today."

"No. Today you read to me." Gajeel teased her with a grin, pointing at her book.

Levy sighed, thinking of the lovely, and quite sensual, scenes in the book. She peeked at Gajeel's face, seeing the stubborn look in his eyes. No help for it.

She opened the book, starting at the beginning. Hopefully he'd get bored or fall asleep before getting to any of the steamy scenes.

Gajeel rubbed his hand across her back as he let her voice rise over him. His other hand straightened her skirt on his lap, the large iron ring catching the light.

Married.

Suddenly the details of the job made him think long and hard. Married couples did a lot of things together. Including sleeping. Without inspecting his motives too hard, Gajeel grinned. He was going to get that kiss, one way or another. And he would do it without getting a mouthful of feathers too. Better yet, he'd get HER to kiss HIM. Oh yes, much better!


	4. Marked

Levy McGarden woke sluggishly, not like fresh in the morning and ready for the day. More like feeling grubby and realizing you fell asleep in an awkward position and didn't get enough rest so that your closed eyes kind of ache. Levy winced and gave a small moan and began to stretch. That's when everything went to hell for her.

Her right shoulder was resting against something hard and yet warm, so was her cheek, leaving her arm a bit pinned and tingling. Her left arm did stretch until her wrist bumped into something, something that groaned and protested her movement. Levy froze. Her sharp mind whirled into high gear as she realized she was still on the train to Burlone. Sleeping on top of Gajeel apparently, having been reading aloud to he and Pantherlily.

And his hand was on her ass.

Levy's face heated and flushed bright red. Gajeel's hand, for it could be no one else's she was sure, was currently cupping her ass. Yep. Not her hip, no. His large palm was under her skirt, though not inside her underpants she was relieved to realize. This wasn't a light touch, it was almost as if he were holding her, or possibly supporting her weight to keep her from falling while sleeping.

"You awake?" The voice rumbled under her ear, making her squeak which only served to further embarrass her.

"Y…your hand!" She protested softly, almost a whisper as if she were afraid to call his attention to the situation.

"Which one? I have two." Gajeel's voice sounded far too amused.

Levy jerked herself upright, glaring into his face accusingly. This did her the favor of removing his palm from her ass, but now she was straddling one of his muscular thighs and her skirt hem had flipped up to daringly play peek-a-boo with her underwear. Both hands grabbed the errant hem and pulled it down to cover herself.

Problem. This did two things. First, the top of her cute dress slipped down and showed a bit more of her cleavage than she normally bared. Second? She was still on top of his lap and straddling his thigh. Her hands coming down with her skirt hem hit him seriously close to a very private, and tender, area.

"Watch it, sweetheart!" He groaned, but didn't move.

Levy scrambled off of Gajeel's lap, red in the face and breathing hard. Her foot came down onto the book she'd dropped while asleep and she had to grab his arm to steady herself.

The other couple on the bench across from them on the train, grinned and smiled at her, clearly amused. The Exceed cat, Pantherlily, looked up and watched without a change in expression.

"Sorry, sorry!" Levy mumbled, acutely embarrassed.

Gajeel blinked at her, then grinned with a soft laugh. "Gihihi … oh shorty, I should write a song about how you wake up on a train."

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't copped a feel!" Levy pointed at him, spitting mad and still red in the face.

"Can you blame a husband for trying to keep his wife from falling?" The dark-haired Dragonslayer did his best to look innocent and failed utterly. Her eyes narrowed on the wicked gleam in his gaze.

Levy knew he was trying to remind her not to start a fight in public and blow their cover. "Husbands treat their wives with respect!" Snapped the blue-haired girl.

"Lot of experience being married?" He crooned smugly.

As soon as she spoke Levy wished she'd clamped her lips shut and sealed them that way. "No! Just a lot of experience being grabbed by you without my say-so!"

Gajeel's eyes went from amused to stone-cold dead, his expression blanking. Clearly they both recalled that day when as a member of the Phantom Lords guild he'd captured her, humiliated and beaten her and her teammates, marked her, and left her as a warning strung up on a tree.

Levy hated herself at that moment, seeing how her words struck him. It didn't help that there were several pairs of eyes watching them, and even more sets of ears. It was a long train ride with little privacy. "I'm sorry, Gajeel." She said, one of her hands rising toward him.

He roughly knocked her hand away, standing and towering over her despite slouching and sticking his fists away into the pockets of his loose trousers. "I need air." He muttered, shoving past her without regard though she noticed his boots came nowhere near stamping on her bare toes showing through her strappy sandals.

Levy's heart ached for her former enemy and current guild-mate. He was so strong and sure of himself that she hadn't realized how much her words might hurt him. They'd never discussed it, not really. Since the defeat and disbandment of the Phantom Lords, and his arrival to take a place within Fairy Tail.

Jet and Droy, two-thirds of Team Shadow Gear, had shouted their disapproval and had attacked Gajeel. He'd not defended himself, not physically, and not with excuses. Even when Laxus had attacked he'd not stood up for himself, until the Lightning Dragonslayer had thrown an attack at her. THAT he'd countered, blocking the blow and the damage from reaching her. It was the only apology he'd offered, letting his actions speak for him.

She'd accepted that. Even seemed to accept him a bit, going so far as to choose him for a partner in the S-class trials. Levy bit her lip. No. He'd chosen her and she'd let him. Tears built up in the corner of her large brown eyes, but didn't fall. What had she just done?

Truthfully, she had a crush on him. So dark, mysterious, strong, and starkly male. Handsome in a rough-hewn sort of way. Sexy. This pretending to be married had started out as something of a lark, giving her a chance to become closer and get him to notice her.

Now she'd blown it. Levy pulled her shoulders back, swiping at her watery eyes. Alright. Maybe it was all ashes right now. But she wasn't a coward and she wasn't going to let those words be the last of it. More than one head turned as the petite wizard in the pretty yellow dress marched purposefully down the aisle.

Gajeel stared up at the late afternoon sky, his hands gripping the railing in front of him so hard that his knuckles appeared white. The metal upon metal sound of the train going over the rails was soothing to him, but did little to relieve his guilt.

"I really am sorry."

The words took him by surprise, as did the fact that he'd been so lost in thought he hadn't realized that Levy had joined him outside the train car.

He turned and gave her a long, cold stare with a growl low in his throat. She didn't appear impressed. The fact that she wasn't frightened helped settle his soul a bit.

"This is it. Only time ever, so take full advantage." Gajeel clenched his jaw and his fists. "I will never speak of that again."

Levy's eyebrows rose, then her expression turned thoughtful. Finally she nodded. "Three questions."

"Shoot short-stuff."

She smiled even around the darkness of her thoughts, despite clearly trying to be intimidating he still sounded like he cared. "You threatened me."

"I did more than that." He countered rudely. "I hurt you. It was a job and I did it."

"We'll get back to that." Levy promised solemnly. "When you had us, you enjoyed hurting us or so it seemed. But when choosing which of us to mark with the Phantom Lord guild sigil, you cut open my top. Left me in my bikini top and said I was too little to even have fun with, not worth the effort as it wasn't a proper mouthful."

Gajeel's face went white, then red. His eyes no longer met hers. "Yeah." He said defensively. "You looking for me to tell you that I like your shape?"

"No." Levy paused heavily and then pushed forward. "Rape. You said I wasn't worth it, and no I'm not looking for you to say you lied. I want to know …I have to know …what you threatened me with? Have you ever done …that …to anyone. Ever forced …."

"NO!" Gajeel roared, his face suddenly in front of hers and so angry he looked like he might go up in flames. "How could you think that?!"

Levy sighed, not pointing out that he was the one to use it as a threat against her in the first place. "I thought not."

"Then why the hell did you ask?" The Dragonslayer looked upset enough to spit nails, which considering his magic affinity was a possibility. Levy laughed on the inside, filing the thought away for later. Now wasn't the time to ask that.

"So that you know that I know that you're not that kind of villain."

Gajeel drew back, staring at her in disbelief. He kept staring as she suddenly poked a finger into the middle of his chest, threatening him even though he was standing a good foot over her in height.

"But I don't want to hear of you EVER using that particular threat again. Its low class and beneath you." She sounded so absurdly stern that he was taken aback. "I won't be married to you if make such threats, no matter the reason."

Gajeel nodded, flushed hot, and stopped his head from moving as he looked down his nose at her. She met his glare with her own and despite his obvious strength both magical and physical, it wasn't Levy that blinked first. "Pft. Whatever. Next."

Neither of them mentioned the fact that they weren't really married. Somehow that simply went by them both.

"Promise me, Gajeel!"

Shorty wasn't letting this one go. He grunted out the word 'promise' and she nodded slowly.

"Second question." She held up two fingers and took a deep breath. "Why Team Shadow Gear? That day. Why us?"

Gajeel hesitated, then shook his head. "You were there." He said blandly and prayed she couldn't tell he was lying through his gleaming teeth.

Levy peered up at his face, suspicious. Yet what she read there wasn't something dark, but that he was embarrassed somehow. "Tell me, one day."

He grunted. "Third question?"

"Do your piercings hurt?"

Gajeel blew out a breath and shook his head at her. "Lame." She gave him a small smile brimming with hope. "So lame." He chuckled, more relieved than he cared to admit. He watched as she held out a hand for him.

Red eyes looked at her face, then her hand, and back again. Three questions. The first he'd answered, the second he'd evaded, the third had been a gift. Letting him off the hook.

Gajeel looked upwards at the sky, seeing the light fading as the train moved on toward Burlone. "What if I let you mark me?" He offered on a whim.

Startled, Levy eyed him in question.

The dark-haired Dragonslayer pushed aside his pride and made the offer again, trying to assuage his guilt. He spread open his long tunic, baring his chest and muscled abs, patting himself there. "I'll let you mark me."

Forgiven or not, Levy could still recall the sharpness of the humiliation of the Phantom Lord sigil on her body. The idea, when it came, seemed perfect. And a bit diabolical.

Gajeel smiled at her enticingly and Levy raised an eyebrow. She pulled out a black permanent marker and his smile dimmed a bit. It seemed she wasn't going to turn down the offer. When her hand began to shimmer with gathering magic energy, he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

"Shorty?"

Levy gestured for him to hold the sides of his tunic open, her gaze direct and challenging him. "You offered." She said sweetly.

Gajeel hesitated, then shrugged. Rather than holding the tunic open for her he pulled it all the way off and spread his arms out wide in invitation. What was she going to put on him? The Fairy Tail guild mark? He already had one on his left arm. Big deal.

"Turn this way." Levy moved him to where the light was best, given that the sun was now setting. Her pink tongue got caught between her teeth as she bent slightly and started drawing on him.

The pen tickled slightly, as did the flow of magic sliding over his skin like a caress. Gajeel stared down at the top of her head and how close she was to him. If he stepped forward, her face would be in his belly. The thought had a certain appeal. He looked up at the sky and ignored his feet, which wanted to move foreward.

Her breath tickled his skin. Her magic tickled his skin. The pen wasn't helping matters. Gajeel could feel his body stir. He wondered if she noticed.

Gajeel looked back down and saw her gaze intent on what she was creating. His semi-arousal seemed to go unnoticed. He frowned sharply at the thought. "Down a bit farther, sweetheart."

At his rough purr, Levy glanced up, then looked down. She looked back up at him almost as if chastising his body for reacting. With that she went back to drawing. He would have been insulted if she hadn't been blushing hotly the whole time.

"Are you two …Oh! Sorry, so sorry!"

Levy snapped upright, peering around her bare-chested 'husband' in horror as one of the other train passengers escaped back inside. In her head she realized what they must have thought they'd witnessed. Her blush turned as red as the sun and she nearly fainted.

Gajeel laughed roughly and put his hand on her head to keep her from falling over.

"They thought …they thought …." Levy stammered, mentally picturing Gajeel standing half-dressed with her leaning in front of him and her face, thus her mouth, very close to his …. His …. "they ….thought …."

"That I was getting lucky and being a very happy husband? Why yes they did." Gajeel grinned, his mood now fully restored. "Care to make it real?" He peered into her face and shook his head. Levy appeared to be deep in shock. "C'mon shorty. You done with me?"

Levy nodded slowly and then balked as he tried to re-enter the train carriage. "I can't go in there! They think I …."

"Two more days to Burlone. You going to stay outside the whole time?" He jeered at her, laughter in his face. "Get it over with."

"At least put your clothes back on …eep!" Levy stared in disbelief. Gajeel had gone inside without her! "Ass!" She shouted.

Inside, the Dragonslayer grinned from ear to ear and walked casually back to his seat. Whispers filled the train carriage until the young husband who was travelling with them leaned forward. "I thought she didn't like public displays?"

Gajeel shut him up with a glare as Levy finally slipped into the train and skulked back down the aisle as if trying to appear smaller than she actually was. Sitting down, she buried her head in her hands and refused to look up.

The other male though wasn't done. He whistled and pointed at Gajeel's bared stomach. Then he grinned and shook his head.

The Dragonslayer looked down. The words were upside down for him, but even if they hadn't been he doubted he'd have been able to read them. "What language is that?"

An older gentleman passed by them, glanced, then burst out laughing as he continued by.

Gajeel's humor vanished as he glared at the still hidden face of Levy. "What did you do?" When she didn't answer he turned to the other male across from him. "What does it say?"

The young man shrugged and then laughed. "Personal property of Levy, if lost please feed him and send him home. Not as mean as he looks."

Pantherlily, who'd been watching quietly, suddenly chortled and shook his head sadly. "Pitiful."

Gajeel crossed his arms with a dour expression, woefully sure that whatever magic she'd infused with the ink, it wasn't washing off anytime soon.


	5. Discount Paperwork

"I'm not going in there, I need new guitar strings. I am not going in there!" Gajeel eyed the clothing shop as if it were a dark guild trap waiting to spring and eat him alive.

Levy tugged on his arm with both of hers, but the Dragonslayer seemed almost not to notice. He moved not an inch. She dropped his arm and ran around to the other side, pushing instead. Gajeel yawned and rolled his eyes. "What is your obsession with my clothing?"

"You have one outfit to change into. ONE!" Levy pushed hard, but Gajeel wasn't budging. He eyed the window of the store with its suits and jackets and shook his head. "We only have two hours before the next train leaves, c'mon! Why are you so stubborn?"

"Iron doesn't give easily." Gajeel said tonelessly. Looking into the reflection of the glass, his eyes caught sight of a woman standing behind them, watching. He turned suddenly, nearly knocking poor Levy down as she squealed in protest and kicked his shin in retaliation.

"You want something?" He growled at the matron from the train, the one who'd protested Pantherlily having a seat and a ticket.

Levy's face was scrunched up in pain as she hobbled over to a chair from the outdoor café next to the shop. She probed at her sore toes that had made contact with Gajeel's shin. "Ow."

The older matron wrapped her expensive animal fur around her and lifted her nose in the air with a sniff. "Barbarian." She said in a snotty tone. "I see it all the time. Perfectly lovely young ladies of fine family and standing throwing their lives away for the thrill of a 'bad boy'. What? Her family didn't approve and you ran off together? Look how you're already treating her. Is that really only the first bruise you've left her with?"

He blanched. The old bat could have no clue how he and Levy had first 'met' and the things he'd done to hurt her. His fists clenched without thought as magic gathered around him as his temper flared. People moved out of the area between the two by instinct alone, eying this dangerous new arrival to their town.

"Gajeel." A soft touch on his arm startled him and he looked down into the softness of Levy's gaze, huge brown eyes nearly melting with a plea to let it go. "Please."

The Iron warrior blinked, letting some of his tension disappear. His fists unclenched as he caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger. People about them started breathing normally again. "Did you run off the 'bad' boy, baby?" He teased in a rough rumble of a voice.

Levy blinked slowly then grinned wide, daringly teasing him back. "How do you know you didn't run off with the 'bad' girl? Huh? I think I ran off with the best there is." She stopped suddenly, her cheeks reddening as she realized he might take her teasing for a confession. "I mean ….she's wrong you know? About you. Us." Her cheeks nearly burned as she dug her verbal hole even deeper. Where had her famous facility for words suddenly vanished to?

Gajeel nodded though internally he was confused. Was she trying to tell him something, or simply spinning a 'story' for their cover on this job? "Wrong about what? That I'm not bad or that we didn't run off?"

Levy suddenly shrugged and giggled. "That I'm a lovely young lady of a fine family that disapproves."

"Oh. I can think of several in your 'family' that would highly disapprove." Gajeel crooned in a mocking voice. They both knew he was speaking of Jet and Droy.

Turning a bit serious, Levy gave him a measured look full of meaning. "They're your family now too. All of them."

Gajeel drew back, getting her message but not sure how to take it. Obviously she meant her guild was now his guild, and that everyone there was as much a part of his family as hers. Though he was under no illusions. Levy was something special. If a choice had to be made, the guild would choose her over him. Hell. So would he. Uncomfortable with the depth of his current thoughts he acted on impulse and grabbed her hand, dragging her into the clothing store. "Hurry up, I still want to get those guitar strings when we're done and that train will be leaving soon!"

Lost in the moment, neither noticed they were being watched by someone VERY surprised to see them. Knowing a bit more about such things, the person in question used magic to change their appearance with subtlety, and even shift their own scent enough to mask their presence.

Inside the store Gajeel stopped, standing mesmerized in front of a frothy dream of a nightdress that shimmered and floated like a cloud. Levy looked at it and felt her self-confidence plummet. It was a piece that Lucy or Erza could pull off, but not her. In other words, it needed a bust line.

A sloe-eyed salesgirl with under-cleavage to die for sauntered up to them, looking back and forth between Levy and the dress that seemed to catch Gajeel's attention. Her lips curved up in a snarky smile that wasn't the least bit friendly, at least not towards Levy. "We don't have a children's department."

The petite wizard felt as if cold water had just been dumped over her head. Her arms crossed defensively over her chest while feelings of inadequacy roared like a river through her veins. "We're here for him."

"Oh. I think I can take care of him." The salesgirl licked her lips in anticipation and reached out to run a finger over Gajeel's bare shoulder. Then found she was touching nothing but air. The Dragonslayer had shifted a millimeter to the right, just enough for a miss. He cocked his head toward Levy as if to say this was all her fault.

Levy blushed and turned, pointing at the men's section of the store. "We need the basics. Several pairs of pants, shirts, the works. Fast too, we have a train to catch."

"Well, I can provide anything he needs or could ever want." Purred the sloe-eyed girl, posing so that her body was shown to curvy perfection. "Anything." Levy bit her bottom lip and looked over at Gajeel who was staring off into space with an unreadable expression. Was he clueless to the chirpy or what?

Another salesperson neared them, this one older and possibly someone's grandmother. She was watching them all with a general air of disapproval. "You are travelling without suitcases?"

Levy shook her head, her blush remaining in place. "He …my husband, right before the wedding his apartment was destroyed." Evicted for seven years being missing and not paying rent, though she stretched the truth. "We didn't want to put off the marriage, but now we need to equip him for the honeymoon at the very least."

"I'll bet he's fully ….equipped." The first salesgirl winked at Gajeel and eyed his tall and muscular form. She reached down and boldly ran a hand over his thigh.

Levy started to frown and then froze as the salesgirl leapt backwards as if she'd touched fire. She was wringing her hand, which had turned red. Oh! Gajeel had slapped her hand away!

"Did you not just hear her? That's my wife!" The Dragonslayer growled through clenched teeth. Not clueless to the flirting after all, just not interested.

Levy's jitters calmed as she clearly heard the disgust, and rejection, in his words and tone. The older saleswoman let an eyebrow rise, then nodded in approval. "Very well, this way." At that moment another customer walked into the store, an elderly woman in fine and sturdy fabrics. "Darla, please go help her."

The curvy salesgirl pouted and protested to no use, moving over to help the older woman who'd come in. The elder let the employee rattle on about cloth choices, while she kept a close eye on the Fairy Tail duo. For she recognized them both only too well.

Belno, former Magic Council member, eyed the guild mark on Gajeel's arm. One that was definitely not Phantom Lord, not anymore. She'd once asked him to seek another path and find a different guild. But really, did it have to be Makarov's? She sighed, though not truly unhappily. She nodded, seeing the young lady with the blue hair hold a shirt up against the Dragonslayer while he did his best to look bored.

Really now. Belno had never seen him actually look ….relaxed. The old Gajeel would have started a fight outside. Or in here. Not calm down and actually strip off his shirt to try a new one on. She smiled as she spotted the high spots of color in Ms. McGarden's cheeks. The pretty young wizard wasn't immune to Dragonslayer muscles it seemed. Good. Interestingly good.

She turned and left the shop without making a single purchase, and never saying a word to the slutty girl they had working there who was left fuming without a sales commission.

Her servant looked up as she approached, ignoring the masked appearance and scent of his master. "Well?"

Belno slowly nodded her head. "What is going on in this area? What jobs are around here?"

The servant had already compiled this information, knowing Belno as he did he'd prepared himself while she'd gone into the store. "Nothing here. But those two have tickets heading to Burlone. Some missing couples. Low level job, pay is middling at best. It's my belief they're posing as a married couple."

Belno nodded, though inwardly she was laughing like a loon. Gajeel? Pretend? Oh yes, he could do the basics. But he wouldn't be relaxed, not like this. No. This Levy may not be his wife, but she was something. Something to him at the very least.

"They're only Fairy Tail wizards though." The servant yawned, bored and ready to continue on their journey back home.

Belno turned and gave him a level-eyed look that had the servant suddenly swallowing hard enough to cough for a few moments. "How long have you worked for me?"

"Fi …five years ….ma'am."

"That explains your stupidity on the matter." Belno nodded and turned away. Seven years ago the best and the brightest had disappeared from Fairy Tail, and Fiore as a whole. In that time the guild's reputation had suffered. But now there were rumors of their return. The only problem? There had been rumors and ghost sightings for years. "Make reservations for the next Grand Magic Games."

The servant looked startled. Belno never went to those things! "Ma'am? You hate displays like that."

"Oh. This year will be different. I can feel it in my bones." Belno smiled wickedly. "And now that I'm retired from the Magic Council, I can sit back and laugh myself silly at how they'll deal with it all."

"Ma'am?" The servant looked lost.

That was fine. Belno smiled. Gajeel Redfox. Dragonslayer and thorn in the Magic Council's side. Now in Fairy Tail and no longer 'dead' or missing. She'd lost one son, and while this one wasn't her child, he reminded her enough of her deceased child that it was comforting to know he was alive, kicking, and making trouble once more. As for Ms. McGarden. She wasn't the troublesome wizard that Gajeel could be, smart from all accounts. Oh yes, she was looking forward to seeing what the future held, for all involved.

"Have you found a life worth living?" She murmured, then when her servant looked at her in question she spoke up. "I want the best seats you can find, damn the cost." Belno grinned, moving away in a much better mood than she'd been in for the past seven years.

Yet she wasn't alone in making observations. Though her intentions and hopes for the future were much more benign. Another duo watched from across the street, whispering to one another.

"Fairy Tail. That's a wizard guild." Thug number one shuddered.

Thug number two laughed. "Worst reputation in Fiore. Weak and chased from their own homes. Should have disbanded years ago when all their high ranking members died."

"Heard they were back." The first guy muttered, feeling the sting of his companion's laughter at his expense.

"Fool. Idiot. There are always rumors. No. Besides. I recognize these two. Think about it. Married couple in Fairy Tail? And that cat? Who do they think they're fooling? It's their kid, transformed. These aren't anyone that's come back from the dead. Sure. They're strong and will be trouble. But we have just the thing to contain them if we need to intervene."

"You sure?"

"Yep." Came the smug response.

Inside the store Gajeel suddenly and violently sneezed twice for no reason. Levy gave him a look and pointed at the full length mirror in the shop.

Scowling, Gajeel stepped over and then cocked his head to one side. "Not bad, shorty." He grunted, rather pleased actually. The pants were loose fitting and easy to move in, not constricting. Cut that way, it gathered at the top of his boots and at the waist. Nothing fashionable or trendy, but still managed to look good and rather masculine. The shirt, on the other hand, was tight, tight, tight. A second skin. It showed off his muscles, but also moved with him. Plus? No sleeves. He hated sleeves especially when fighting, he tended to tear them out of tunics and coats on general principle.

"It's great for fighting!" His teeth gleamed back at him from where his mirror image was actually smiling.

"Bad boy image upheld." Levy said triumphantly, pumping one fist in the air. A piece of cloth with a bold geometric design on it fluttered from that fist.

"That's too big to hold back your hair." He pointed out.

"But not for yours." Levy grinned up at him and gestured for him to bring his head down to her level.

Immediately he protested, shaking his head.

Levy gave him a look. It wasn't a puppy-dog look, he might have stood a chance against that. It wasn't a commanding look for he could have rebelled against that easily. It was a look of disappointment, but not in him, but in herself mixed with embarrassment. Gajeel stood zero chance.

She started to move back, he captured her wrist with one hand. Her bones felt so fragile in his grip, yet he knew she was strong. "Gimme." He murmured.

Her breath caught and she turned those eyes back on him with dawning hope and pleasure. "No, let me." He was a goner and he knew it. With a groan he knelt down in front of her.

Levy pulled his hair back and moved around him, stepping over his legs from where he was kneeling down. He closed his eyes against the pleasure of her fingers in his thick hair, the scent of her so close, the warmth of her body near enough for him to grab. Damn.

"You can look now." Gajeel moved fast enough to startle the two ladies, but he needed to get away or he would have found himself holding her with no explanation he could give. Not out loud.

He stared at his image without seeing for a few moments.

"Well?" Levy moved over next to him and her image in the mirror reflected that.

Gajeel stopped breathing. He and Levy. Side by side. He was all muscle and attitude, iron studs piercing his skin and a fierce expression. She was petite and delicate looking, beautiful and fairy-like. She barely topped out at his chest, he had a good foot on her in height. They didn't belong together.

His lungs protested the lack of breath.

"Oh for …are you even listening to me? Gajeel? Don't be stupid! If you don't like it just say so!" She hit him. Slapping his chest and there shouldn't be enough strength there for him to feel, yet he does. It stings. Deliciously stings. The world rights itself.

So what if they didn't belong together? Since when had he EVER listened to fate, authority, or anyone else.

Levy looked delicate and tiny, but he knew her strength. Her inner core. She was as much made of iron as he was. Gajeel bent and scooped his arm beneath her bottom, lifting her up so that she was sitting on his elbow and forearm.

In the mirror they now were the same height, or at least their heads were on the same level. She had a softly colored ribbon in her hair with a flower on it. Should have been ridiculous. He loved it. As for him, Gajeel finally 'saw' the bandanna around his forehead. It was bold and not at all feminine or stupid looking. It held his hair back. And she'd picked it out for him. "I like it."

Her pique disappeared and she gave him a happy grin, laying her head down on his shoulder.

"Now. We get quite a few customers in here on their way to Burlone. And we do give a rather hefty discount to newlyweds. Care to show me your wedding certificate and I can apply that sales price?" The older woman smiled at the couple, rather charmed by the two of them despite her earlier reservations.

"It's in my bag." Levy said before Gajeel could even wonder if they had one of those. He grunted. Of course she'd taken care of it. "You'll have to put me down." She told him.

"Like hell." He muttered so low that Levy was sure she must have heard him wrong.

The saleswoman picked up the bag, stretching up to hand it to Levy with a laugh. "You caught yourself a big fish, young woman."

Levy giggled and nodded. "I did, didn't I?"

"Care to spread the wealth and tell me what kind of bait?" Darla, the sloe-eyed and slutty salesgirl from earlier asked from the front of the store. She looked miffed, and mystified, that any male would chose Levy over her.

"Actually not sure. He won't tell me why he chose me." Levy said, half serious.

Gajeel clamped his jaw shut and shook his head while Levy handed over their wedding certificate with a smile.

The older woman's eyes rounded. "Oh! This won't do, won't do at all."

Levy's spine stiffened. "I'm sure I followed all the correct procedures and filings!" No one ever accused her work of being less than meticulous.

The woman laughed and waved the paper in the air. "It was good until last month. Politics! We elected a new governor and his seal needs to be attached, that's all."

"Sounds like a rip-off to collect extra fees." Levy pouted.

"That's it exactly!" The older woman shrugged. "Still, it would invalidate your license, and you don't want that."

"Look. The clerk is a friend of mine, let's go over there and get this sealed properly." She leaned in with a whisper. "He hates the new governor and might be persuaded to waive the fee since you only missed the new deadline by a day."

That was how Gajeel and Levy found themselves standing in the town hall.

"Can we hurry this along, I have to pick up some things before the train leaves?" Gajeel grumped, getting anxious to work on his precious guitar. He hoped the whole thing didn't need to be refretted. His previous landlord had not taken good care of his baby.

"And I have more shopping to do." Levy said, annoyed that she had missed adding the new seal to the wedding paperwork she'd forged back at the guild hall. There had been no way for her to have known about the chances, but that didn't stop her from feeling put out.

"The new seal is 500 jewel." The clerk sounded bored.

"Oh now, Lessker." The saleswoman said sweetly. "You know it's just a scam to get more money off of people. Hold their marriages hostage. Isn't there some way around this?"

The clerk sighed, peering at the paperwork again. "You did miss the deadline by only a day." He muttered. "No reason you have to pay extra to stay married like the rest of us. Stupid tax. Every couple in this part of the country have to pay 500 jewel in order to validate their marriage, even if they'd been married over sixty years!"

"Wretched governor." The saleswoman agreed.

The clerk nodded, scratched behind one ear and then shrugged. "Only one way to do it and it only costs you 100 jewel."

"We'll take it." Gajeel growled even as Levy asked for more details. "Just get on with it!"

"Short and sweet it is." The man laughed, looked at Levy and then winked. "Definitely short and sweet."

Gajeel made a threatening face and the man straightened up. "Sorry. Short and to the point. Yes. Right. Hey! You …" He gestured a janitor over and told him to watch the goings on.

"You." The clerk pointed at Gajeel. "You promise to love and keep her, bad and good times included and to protect her forever?"

"Sure, whatever."

Levy looked startled. "Uhm, why are you asking …."

"Want to get out of here for under 500 jewel?" The clerk asked her and she nodded. "Well then tell me you'll love and keep him, bad and good times included and that you'll obey him."

Levy's mouth clamped shut and fire nearly spilled out of her eyes.

Gajeel laughed. "You can take out the word obey, you'll never get an answer out of her that way. Torture won't even get her to talk if she don't want. May not be very tall, but strongest damn woman I know. Doesn't know when, or how, to quit." He grimaced and shrugged. Why had he brought that up? Bad memory. "Nevermind. Don't mention obey."

Levy, caught unawares, stared at Gajeel in wonder. He'd sounded …admiring?

"Well, do you little lady?"

"Do I what?" She asked, still in a daze about what Gajeel had just said, and how he'd said it. Like he appreciated her strength.

"The other stuff, not the obey part."

"Yes, sure. Just not obey." She murmured, still distracted. Levy caught her breath as Gajeel sent a quick look at her. He saw her looking at him and they both blushed and turned away from each other in a rush.

"Sign and pay." They both did, with the Dragonslayer handing over the required monies.

"Congratulations." The clerk smiled heartily at them and ripped up their old wedding certificate that Levy had worked so diligently on to forge.

"Hey!" She protested.

The clerk handed over a new certificate to her with a small flourish and a bow. "Sorry. Cheaper to ignore the invalid one and just marry you two all over again. So. Today is your new wedding day and tonight you get a second wedding night. Hubba hubba!"

"Good. Wait. WHAT?" Gajeel roared, stunned as he grabbed the paper Levy had just dropped and then had to scramble before he caught his bride as she near fainted.

"Sorry. It's not the fancy wedding you probably had back at home, but this one is legal at least. I now pronounce you husband and wife." The clerk beamed, secure in the knowledge that he'd done a good deed for the day.


	6. Kiss the bride

"Well. Go on. Kiss her." The town official beamed at Gajeel and Levy, completely oblivious to their inner shock and turmoil.

"Kiss?" Levy huffed out a breath, basically all the air left in her now starving lungs. The word a mere whisper.

Gajeel, with his Dragonslayer sensitive hearing, caught the word … and the tinge of shock and …fear? His stomach turned over. Thrice. He swallowed. In his mind's ear he could hear her voice much louder and clearer as in his memory she called him a monster. The word echoed through him, ringing over and over again like a physical beating. One he could not dodge.

Levy's knees felt shaky and her balance completely off, her natural grace deserting her as she turned to look up at her husband. Fear swamped her. Had she just blown away their rather awkwardly sweet friendship with this blunder? Would her mistake with the paperwork make him turn from her? She bit her lip to keep from making any embarrassing noises as she remembered moment after moment of Gray's reaction to Juvia's chasing him around. Not reciprocating the obsessive feelings of the water mage. Would Gajeel look at her like that? Would he turn away? Or worse yet? Play along out of a sense of duty to the job? Her head started shaking in denial. She wanted him to WANT to kiss her, not be forced into it! Didn't she? Well, that was the problem, wasn't it? Did she? He was strong and masculine and handsome and irritating and a stupid jerk at times and he'd saved her life but then he'd also hurt her and attacked her friends but he'd changed or had he ….. "eep!"

Levy drew back as Gajeel suddenly, and without romantic fanfare of any kind, leaned down and pressed two dry and uninterested lips somewhere in the vicinity of between her nose and upper lip. He drew back just as quickly, jamming his hands in his pockets. "We've got a train." He said in a mean and tight voice, clipping his words off with utter arrogance and disinterest.

Levy nearly stumbled, but righted herself immediately. Her large and expressive eyes narrowed onto her new husband's retreating back. "Wait! What about your new clothes?"

"You deal with it." Gajeel yawned widely and walked out the door. "I told you I need guitar strings."

Embarrassed, Levy made apologies for his abrupt speech and departure. She hurried out the door, then stopped suddenly, wanting to bang her head against something very, very hard. No. Make that her fists and make that his head. Levy sighed, drooping her head down. Gajeel probably wouldn't even feel the blows. The jerk. And she had to go back inside. One of the witnesses to her impromptu marriage was the saleslady at the clothing shop and Levy still had to pay for their purchases. Pay. She scowled with realization. She had all the money. Her own, and his that she'd collected from his previous landlord.

Maybe she couldn't hurt his head, but she could damned well put a large dent in his finances. Levy grinned evilly. She wondered briefly about the ethics of it all, then shoved those thoughts aside. Ms. McGarden was going shopping! Suddenly she coughed and bit her lip again. No. That was Mrs. Redfox now. Or maybe she wouldn't take his name. He couldn't make her and how would he like it if …. "oh drat." Levy's mind stilled once more. Gajeel wouldn't care if she didn't take his name! Of course he wouldn't. It wasn't a really real marriage. As soon as they returned to Magnolia, it would be annulled.

o.o.o.o.o

Gajeel walked down the street, not seeing anything. No shops, no people, no nothing. He was huge and rather scary looking, so pretty much everyone moved out of his way so it wasn't much of a problem.

All Gajeel could see was the fear in Levy's eyes as she'd turned to look up at him. Fear he'd put there. It sickened him on a fundamental level.

"Yo." Pantherlily moved to join him, though the Dragonslayer couldn't have said from which direction the Exceed cat had come. "Gajeel?"

A grunt was the Iron Magic wielder's only response.

"There are no kiwis in this town." Pantherlily said with disgust, then let the silence build between them as they walked aimlessly down several roads. Finally the cat cleared his throat. When that got no response he coughed sharply three times. Two more turns down two more roads later the cat again cleared his throat.

Gajeel stopped, gloomy and morose. "Hairball?"

"I'll kick your ever loving ass if you ever suggest such a disgusting thing to me again." Pantherlily said, though his words were more gentle than they warranted. He looked up at the human mage as if trying to read him. "What's the matter?"

Gajeel looked up at the sky, squinting as if trying to see something. He wasn't. He gave a resolute sigh and shook his head. "Married Levy."

Pantherlily nodded slowly. "It's a good cover. We arrive at the resort and check in. You two sign up for all sorts of activities, listen and snoop. I've heard from several of the mages back at the guild that Levy is a genius at slipping in nearly unnoticed and getting information."

"Nah. She'd be useless at it." Gajeel shook his head. "We need a better plan."

The Exceed cat shook his head, a bit taken aback. "Levy isn't useless."

"Not what I said." Snapped the Dragonslayer. "She's strong and brave, too brave actually for her size. But sneaking in? Unnoticed? Who'd not notice her? There's always like a friggin' spotlight on her, she practically glows. I always know when she walks in a room."

Pantherlily stepped back while still staring up at Gajeel's face. "Oh. Well. Now actually. That makes a lot of sense." He nodded thoughtfully. "You know it's only a pretend marriage, but you can use this time alone to get to know her better."

"Shut it you stupid cat!" Red eyes flashed instantly as white teeth shone between bared lips and hinted at fangs. "This is only a job!"

"Yes. Of course." Pantherlily nodded slowly, not believing his companion for an instant.

Gajeel turned away, staring blankly at a random shop window. Something with flowers. He grimaced. "Women like flowers, right?"

What passed for eyebrows on the small cat rose, shifting the battle scar over one eye. Insightfully the cat mentally reshuffled a few things in his head. "Most women seem to do so. Not Exceed females. Gifts of food would be better for us, but I've spent enough time around humans to have heard about flowers as gifts."

"I mean …on their wedding day." Gajeel sounded utterly lost.

Pantherlily tilted his head to one side, his tail swishing in agitation. He noticed some human children of the young teen variety watching them from a corner. He noted their number and their stances, it did not appear to be predatory but he kept watch anyway. "Not really a wedding though."

Gajeel's wide shoulders hunched miserably. "Just married Levy. Before you remind me again it's a farce, it turns out that our license wasn't good here. Instead of a new one, they just remarried us. Legally."

The cat's tail froze, twitched like a rattlesnake, and then began to swing slowly back and forth. "So."

"Yeah." Gajeel's eyes travelled over the flowers on display and then nearly laughed at himself as he realized they weren't real. Glass or crystal, maybe some enamel. A pink one caught his eye. It reminded him of the one in Levy's headband.

"It's not really a problem though, is it?" Pantherlily said cautiously. "A bit bothersome perhaps. An annulment at the end of the job would be fairly easy. They do have those in the human world, right?"

Gajeel grunted. Suddenly the word annulment felt poisonous to him. His hands clenched into fists in his pocket and he snarled. The watching children began to whisper and back away.

Pantherlily sighed. "Stop it. You're scaring the people. You're supposed to be a bridegroom, not a warrior."

"Lily? I'm no one's idea of a bridegroom. I don't belong on this mission. Jet or Droy should be here."

The cat sighed, crossing his arms as he shifted into a stern tone of voice. "Don't make me shift into my battle form and beat the snot out of you, Gajeel. That would really scare the local children. Let me ask you this …you want Levy to marry Jet or Droy?"

"No!" The word was torn from him, feeling like it had originated at the bottom of his very being. Wide-eyed, Gajeel turned his eyes to look at Lily's face reflected in the shop window. "I mean …."

"Okay. Step one in seducing a female …."

Gajeel roared and turned, staring wide-eyed at his small cat as if Pantherlily had just turned bright pink with polka dots. "What the hell? I never said that …"

"Shut up!" Lily glared up at the much larger male. "No. You have never said you like Levy in that way, but I'm not blind nor am I an idiot and let's not do this stupid dance where you deny what we both know." He paused thoughtfully. "Or what I know and you may not have come to terms with yet."

"Stupid cat." Muttered the Dragonslayer to one of the only beings on the planet who could say such a thing to him and not come to death blows.

"Step one …."

"Forget it." Gajeel shook his head strongly. "She looked at me in fear."

Pantherlily finally did snap his mouth shut as he looked up at his friend and companion. "When?"

"When the official said for me to kiss her."

"Oh."

"Yeah …oh." Gajeel looked utterly miserable. "You've heard about me being part of the Phantom Lord guild, and how I attacked Fairy Tail? I hurt her. And today? When I was supposed to kiss her? She looked at me in fear."

Lily sighed in sympathy. "She's forgiven you, or she wouldn't have accepted you as a partner on Tenrou. But … there might be some fear left over."

"I ….I can't have her looking at me like that. I can't stand to see myself reflected in her eyes when she is remembering that time."

Good. Pantherlily said, if only to himself. "Revising my list. Step one becomes apologizing to her."

"Words would never touch that wound." Gajeel rejected the advice immediately.

"Indeed not." The cat agreed. "You have to show her you're not that person. That you're worth any effort she might put into you."

"Into me? What does that mean?" Gajeel asked, baffled.

Pantherlily rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Nevermind. This means taking seduction off the table. You want to focus on making her comfortable around you, safe with you."

"I fought to protect her on Tenrou." Gajeel pointed out, feeling rather raw and exposed.

"And she fought to protect you too." The cat reminded him. "But yes, you already have a good foundation."

Brightening at Lily's words, Gajeel looked at him in hope. "We do?"

"You just have to stop acting like a jerk."

The Dragonslayer nodded, then frowned, the metal studs that passed for his eyebrows moved together as he considered his options. Finally he said a very bad word, followed by two or three more. "It's not an act." He admitted reluctantly.

Startled into a laugh, Pantherlily smiled and shook his head in resignation. "Okay. We get Levy to like you as you are."

"Impossible." Gajeel thought about her and mentally placed her next to an image of himself in his head. It wasn't a pretty picture, at least not to him.

"Flowers." Pantherlily pointed at the store. "Try those. And then we have to get back to the train or we'll miss our ride."

Gajeel nodded, then frowned. He'd left his money with Levy. He had enough pocket change for some guitar strings and food but not much else. He turned and looked at the small spun-glass flower in the window. His stomach growled.

o.o.o.o.o

Levy wasn't sure what in the world she was going to say to Gajeel. Hey! I bought you a bed! And sheets. And big fluffy pillows. A bookcase and a desk and a lamp and some basic plates ….. "Drat." She murmured. It sounded horribly like an over obsessed fangirl wanting to play house with a guy! It didn't help that the sheets were in a color that suited his personality, but wouldn't clash with the color of her hair. She blushed beet red at the thought. Stars. There were stars on the sheets. Would he like that bit of whimsy or think it childish?

Most of her purchases she'd arranged to be delivered back to the guild in Magnolia. Only a few things were with her here. Waiting.

"Oy."

Levy looked up, both startled and relieved to see both Gajeel and Pantherlily walking toward her. "Hey." She eyed the plain white bag that dangled from his long fingers, stark against the blackness of his fingerless gloves. She frowned.

"What's wrong, Short-stack?" Gajeel said, earning a glare from his feline companion. "What?"

"That's a jerk thing to say." Lily hissed at him.

"We established that as my norm." The human male reminded him.

Levy blinked at them both in confusion, then startled as the train whistled to let the passengers know to go ahead and board.

The duo moved through the crowds at the station onto the train itself. Overstuffed bags and over-stuffed people bumped into her and jostled them as they tried to push through. Then someone stepped on Levy's toe and she made a small distressed sound.

Suddenly she was air born.

Levy squealed and grabbed onto whatever she could find for support. Her fingers curled into Gajeel's thick hair as she realized she was now sitting on one side of his wide shoulders. It wasn't a perfect fit, she wasn't exactly THAT tiny, but it made her feel ridiculously small and weak …and warm and grateful … childlike …and protected ….condescended to … and just a tiny bit turned on. She blushed and tightened her hold on him.

"Watch the finger in the eye." He snarled, but there was no heat in his voice. Instead he sounded worried. Levy smiled sheepishly as Gajeel began thumping his fists and forearms into bags and people to clear a space in order to get them to their seats.

With great reluctance Levy slid off of him to stand on their train seat. She watched as he realized the overhead bins had no more space for their new purchases.

"Just put it all on the edge of the seat here. I'll sit with you." She said daringly. He couldn't possibly call her out on being fangirlish for that, it was only practicality after all. Right? When really what she meant is she would curl up right next to him. The memory of waking up with his hands on her bottom had been embarrassing at the time, but not without its own special thrill that sent warm tingles across her body.

Then she remembered how he'd treated her at the wedding and her ardor chilled off a bit. What if he really didn't want to be caught up next to her?

"Sure. Whatever." He grunted, yawned and stretched. He moved past Levy and threw himself into the corner, taking up nearly the entire available seat on the bench.

Levy moved to look through the purchases she'd elected to bring with them rather than to ship on back to Magnolia.

Gajeel's eyes moved to her backside as she innocently did whatever the hell she was doing. He was pretty sure that if she could read his mind right now she'd slap him into next week. The hem of her pretty little dress flirted with the tops of her creamy thighs and the material molded itself to her very, very, very fine ass.

His eyes started to ache and feel dry but by damned he wasn't going to blink and miss a second.

She stood suddenly, yanking out a fleecy blanket and travel pillow. Levy chucked the pillow at his head which he caught with a puzzled look. She gestured for him to take it and Gajeel suddenly grinned, putting it behind his head to protect him from the rigid walls of the train itself.

"Much better." He sighed happily. They had another day's train ride before reaching Burlone and the pillow was a small comfort, and a kind gesture. Not something someone in fear would do for you, or was it? He frowned slightly even as Levy shoved on his knees to move them.

He blinked at her and sat up on the bench rather than lie across it. She sat down next to him in the spot where his legs had been but a moment before.

Awkward they sat there, together and yet not. Pantherlily bounded across the train with ease, bouncing off people and bags with indifference until he landed on the bags of their belongings.

"Oy! Don't break anything!" Gajeel snapped, eying the white bag he'd carried on himself.

"Guitar strings don't break that easily." Laughed Levy a little too brightly as she twisted her fingers in her lap. She really didn't know what to do or say next.

Gajeel licked his lips and didn't say anything about her assumption of what he'd bought. He glanced at Pantherlily trying to find a good spot to sit, then at Levy looking all prim and proper next to him.

In his head part of him screamed that in order to get her not to fear him, then he should NOT be himself. It didn't work. Gajeel growled, scooped Levy up without warning and swung his legs back onto the bench and settled her firmly onto his lap, leaning back against his chest. His lap appreciated the soft weight and his arms felt nicely full. "Better." His voice rumbled deeply, reverberating next to her ear.

Levy shivered, but did not resist nor pull away.

Pantherlily shook his head sadly, thinking his friend might be single for life. "Here." He picked up the blanket Levy had brought and Gajeel stretched for it, which in turn made Levy settle even more snugly against his chest in a very intimate way. There was not a portion of skin on her that wasn't blushing by the time the Dragonslayer had flipped the blanket out and settled it over the two of them.

The train whistled loudly, indicating they'd be leaving the station shortly.

Pantherlily poked around their things, pushing bags aside to make room before he cried out happily. With a grin he handed Levy the book she'd been reading them on the first part of their journey. "Here! Didn't lose your place, I hope. Renault and Isla are caught in the dungeon and I can't wait to hear how they break out and thwart the evil Prince Tundra."

"She should just ditch Renault and marry Tundra." Gajeel grinned evilly, knowing his words would provoke the bookworm he was holding.

Levy had been focusing on how to refuse, since she didn't want to read either male any more of the story. Especially the more steamy passages she knew to be coming up shortly. But Gajeel's words shocked her. She slammed her palm down on his chest and growled into his face. It was a very decent growl too, he liked it.

"Tundra! Marry Tundra! He's wanting to steal everyone's land and he is no hero!"

Gajeel blinked into the face of an incensed Levy McGarden. There was no fear in her eyes now. Her brown eyes glared at him and he lost himself for a moment. Brown? No. They weren't brown, not quite. His mouth watered and his body nearly hummed in interest. He shifted his hip slightly to avoid embarrassing himself. "Renault's a wimp."

"It's called character development!" She lectured him, going on and on about starting out at one level and then rising with each accomplishment until reaching the zenith. When she was done she was actually breathing a bit heavily. He approved as her breasts lightly brushed against his chest. He reckoned himself a bit of a pervert around her.

"Isla is brave and insightful and fighting for her rights and those of her people, right?" He finally asked.

She nodded curtly.

"Why doesn't she have to develop? She's already pretty great. Tundra. He has money, drive, ambition but why can't he build on his own levels? He's accomplished more in his life than Renault ever would. Isla should dump the chump and marry the winner."

Her pretty eyes nearly crossed with shock and upset. He grinned happily at her.

"What? You see Tundra as the hero?" Levy snarled. "His intentions are evil!"

"Misunderstood." Gajeel crooned back at her.

"He's stubborn and won't listen!" She added on to her argument, rising up on his chest and glaring down into his face.

"He knows what's what and what he wants. That's not necessarily evil." He teased her, no longer talking about some fictional character.

"How can you say such things? Tundra doesn't even listen to her! Doesn't communicate!"

Speaking of himself and himself alone, Gajeel gave her a half grin. "He listens. He hears ever damned word, every sound, every emotion. He doesn't always understand her though and it's hard sometimes. He doesn't want her to see him as bad, but he can't help being who he really is and why can't she see that?"

Levy's mouth opened and closed soundlessly for a moment. "What book are you reading? Did you fall asleep and dream that up? Because that's not in this book. Isla would never marry the villain."

Stung, and feeling the call of her warm body next to his, Gajeel reacted without thinking. "Oh no? Well I think perhaps she already did marry the villain."

"Wha ….?"

Levy couldn't say anything else as she received the first proper kiss of her entire life. In other words, it wasn't proper at all.

Pantherlily blinked and then turned away, curling into a ball on the seat and ignored them. He sighed and laid his head down on his paws. "That is NOT what we discussed, Gajeel." He muttered to himself.

Gajeel's mouth was hot and Levy's mind failed her. It fritzed out completely. His lips stole her breath and her thoughts as she moaned outrageously loud. Her hair was caught in the palm of one of his hands as he held her to him, pressing their lips together. Ruthlessly he dragged his mouth across hers, laying siege until she opened for him and his tongue surged inside without guile or warning.

Levy collapsed against him, boneless as he ravaged her mouth. It was a kiss of passion and claiming. There was nothing romantic or light hearted about it. This was a raw coming together as Gajeel tasted her, staking his claim as if afraid she might cast him off and out and he'd never have the chance again.

She shoved him and he had enough humanity left in him to back away. To let her move back and stare at him with the widest and most beautiful damned eyes he'd ever seen. They definitely weren't brown though, he stared at her in bemusement. "Bronze."

"What?"

"Yer eyes." He growled. "They're bronze and shine like fire."

Levy groaned and he waited for her to slap him down, either verbally or physically. "Gajeel." His name was a breathless plea.

She leaned in and lightly kissed his bottom lip. Her mouth moved feather light to the left side and she kissed him there. He bit at her and she chuckled and moved back out of his way. When he settled she licked him lightly, delicately.

Gajeel's mind nearly blew. She licked him.

"You taste metallic. I did wonder."

His breathing was ragged as she sat back, blushing hotly and looking at him with shy glances, her mouth swollen and puffy. And there wasn't a hint of fear or rejection on her.

"Levy McGarden, you shock me."

"Maybe Levy Redfox is braver than you think." She nearly fainted at the daring of her own words.

He groaned and banged the back of his head against the side of the now moving train. They were in public and he could not do what he really wanted to do right now.

"We should eat." She said suddenly.

"Eat?" He echoed with disbelief. "No. What we need to do is curl up under this blanket and …."

"EAT!" She squeaked suddenly, shifting away from him and waving at him to shut up. It was utterly adorable.

"Yes ma'am." He said with an exaggerated sigh. His stomach growled loudly, startling both of them. Gajeel laughed and gave in. "My body betrays me." He didn't mention the other parts of his body feeling abandoned and achy at the moment. "Whatcha got?"

"I didn't know what you wanted. So I got the meal boxes with the highest iron. Broccoli and liver with onions."

Gajeel suddenly blinked. He had favorite foods, but he'd never considered that what he ate might actually be reflective of the trace amounts of iron in those foods. "Gihihi …actually, that is kinda accurate." He said proudly. "Damn you're smart."

"And this box has a sweet treat. Cake balls. They're individually wrapped and color coded. The red ones have cherry filling, and the green ones have pistachio. The ones with the green stripes though are kiwi and the yellow have lemon curd and …."

Pantherlily turned to them eagerly. "Did you say kiwi? I love kiwi!"

"Dinner first." Levy said, embarrassingly aware that the cat must have witnessed her kissing with Gajeel. "Dessert after."

"Not a child and I'll eat, but I want to make sure to get the kiwi ones. Which color were they?" He looked over at the dark-haired Dragonslayer who was looking through the box of sweets. "Gajeel what color balls do you have over there?"

"Blue."

Levy shook her head. "The kiwi ones have a green stripe. I don't remember blue bbbb…alls." Her voice broke and both hands went to cover her mouth in shock.

"Gihihihi …ow! Watch where you punch, Shrimp-girl!"


	7. New friends

"Honeymoon, huh?" The young farmer sitting across from him cleared his throat and tried to start up a conversation. He was obviously nervous and his smile didn't seem entirely stable as he looked over at Gajeel. "I'm Phen, my girl …I mean my wife …is Shagon."

The dark-haired Dragonslayer didn't care. But. They were on a job. He really should talk with the other couple, or at least one half since the wife seemed to be zonked out asleep. Actually, so was Levy, thank all that was holy.

Ever since his quip about his balls the shrimp-girl had been giving him the cold shoulder. Gajeel was actually a bit surprised not to have frost-bite at the moment. But that had been several boring hours ago. Now that pretty blue hair was leaning against his side, seeking him in slumber like she hadn't when awake. Which made Gajeel loathe to rouse her right now. Still. Job.

Just as the young man sat back looking disappointed, Gajeel gave a soft grunt. "Hey." He did his social bit and gave the other man his name. Testing the waters as it were. There was no glint of recognition, or fear, in Phen. A fact that he found more than a little disappointing. Gone for seven years and the name 'Black Steel Gajeel' seemed to have vanished. Damn it.

Sure he was a member of Fairy Tail now, and he doubted Master Makarov would approve of a bad reputation. Still. He'd worked hard to build up a name for himself. A fearsome name wasn't exactly the same as a villainous one, right?

Levy stirred gently, a soft sound escaping her as she shifted in her sleep. Slowly, so as not to wake her, Gajeel shifted his arm and was rewarded when she snuggled in closer to his side. The Dragonslayer moved his arm back, wrapping it protectively about her. Levy mutterd something even his enhanced senses couldn't hear and settled down, nuzzling her nose into his side with a happy sigh.

Alright. So there were perks to not being his old Phantom Lord self anymore. He frowned softly. No. This wasn't a perk and he wasn't an idiot. This wasn't real. Levy in his arms, it wasn't real. It was a job.

Except. Gajeel groaned a bit as he thought about a slip of paper that said otherwise. According to the law, Levy was his fucking wife. He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. If he didn't watch himself his balls would stay blue the entire time they were in Burlone.

"So. How'd you two meet?" Phen asked, trying to be social.

Gajeel latched onto the conversation without thought, hoping to distract himself only to realize that talking about Levy wasn't a good way to go about distancing himself from her. "Working." He kept it short and simple. "We were rivals and then we weren't."

Phen smiled, too obviously relieved the larger male was willing to talk and relieve the boredom of the trip. "What clued you in that she was the only one for you?"

Gejeel answered without thought or consideration. "I saw her and I just knew that I needed her." As soon as the words left his mouth he knew they were absolutely true, solidifying something he'd not really put into conscious realization before. It unsettled him on a fundamental level. He wasn't used to needing anyone or anything, not since Metalicana had abandoned him.

Levy seemed to sense his unease even in her sleep. One hand rose and settled on his chest, near his heart, before it slid back down again while she pressed closer.

Phen grinned at the small display, nodding. "Not me, man. Shagon?" He looked over at his own snoozing wife. "She was a friend from when we were kids, and a good one too. Then I saw another man flirt with her one day and I knew that I couldn't let that happen. Hadn't even known I felt about her that way until then. Surprised the heck out of me."

Gajeel didn't answer, he was still reeling from his own realization. He'd not considered the matter before. But the more he examined it, the more he realized the truth. He had seen Levy and it was like the sun had shone a little bit brighter right over her. His eyes had gone to her, and stayed. But she had been Fairy Tail and he'd been Phantom Lord, which had actually angered him at the time. Gajeel knew he'd not been aware of wanting her, not then. It had just …. He'd seen her light and laughter and had felt an empty lack, a hollowness that had ached like a severed limb.

That's when he'd noticed Jet and Droy trailing behind her, all three laughing and cutting up a bit. Any fool could have seen their hearts pinned right on their sleeves for the pint-sized mage that led them. Even him. And that had nearly destroyed her. At his hands.

Phen started waxing on and on about his wife and how they'd started dating. The man wouldn't shut up. But that was fine, he wasn't exactly listening. Gajeel nodded here and there, but otherwise ignored the other couple completely.

Levy had just asked him yesterday …why Team Shadow Gear? Why had he chosen them as his target in order to incense the Fairy Tail guild?

The answer was …he was an asshole.

Gajeel's hand slid up and down Levy's back while the other reached across his own body to bury itself in her blue wavy hair. The softness of her locks made his breath catch hard within his lungs.

He'd seen Levy and he'd wanted her. Except he didn't. He didn't want to want her. He certainly didn't want to be like Jet and Droy, trailing after her merrily hoping that one day she might turn around and say something nice. Gajeel remembered how angry he'd been at all three of them. How he'd HATED Levy for trailing these men along behind her, unmindful of their feelings. Like they were accessories to be collected.

Because he'd felt the same. In one instant, she'd had him too, drawn to her and yet repulsed by what she represented. He hadn't thought, only reacted. Something made you feel bad? Destroy it.

Was it her laughter? Her smile? Her scent? Hell, he didn't know. Not then and not now. It just was. Hurting her had been an act of self-defense on his part. An asshole move, to be sure, but that's what it was. He'd done his job and tried to forget that first moment when he'd seen her, when she'd been glowing with life and laughter and fun. Out of his league.

Then Makarov had brought him into Fairy Tail and he'd thought he could ignore Levy. Yeah right. Shorty had been a revelation to him. Turned out that she wasn't manipulative, capturing hearts and making them her slaves. Levy was pretty unaware of her effect on others, he'd been shocked to discover. Instead she was smart and brave and funny and caring on a fundamental level that still left him stunned.

He was still fighting the fact that she had him wrapped around her finger. And he was losing. But the worst thing was …she didn't even know there was a battle going on.

Gajeel growled, feeling uneasy and on edge. He didn't want to want her. Levy made him vulnerable, and if he were honest, he didn't want to desire her more than she did him. And since she didn't want him like that, then he needed to find a way to not want her.

Her mouth opened and she almost said something in her sleep and then turned once more into his embrace. Gajeel's arms settled around her more firmly, for despite his resolve to push her away, his own muscles wouldn't obey.

o.o.o.o.o

"So. How did you two meet?"

Levy had been expecting the question, it was a basic one after all. And in undercover work it was necessary to stick as close to the truth as possible in order to help in remembering your stories. She still froze. Her eyes moved across the train platform to look at Gajeel who was leaning against the support beam to the water tower.

He'd been acting strangely ever since the train and stopped in order to take on water and fuel. She'd awoken feeling quite comfortable despite having slept sitting upright for quite a while, maybe the motion of the train had been soothing or something.

Gajeel had barely looked at her and only grunted a few times in response to any of her questions.

"Well? I told you how Phen and I met." Shagon said with a friendly grin. "Though it's common as dirt and twice as exciting."

Levy demurred, shaking her head gently. "I think it's sweet that you two have been together since childhood." She avoided the question about her first 'meeting' with her husband. "You and Phen seem well suited together."

Shagon blushed underneath her tanned cheeks, her own eyes seeking out her new husband as well. Phen waved at her from over with the group of men from the train as they chatted.

Gajeel wasn't with them, of course. Levy sighed internally. Drat him. Would it have hurt him to mingle and learn more about their fellow passengers? This was a job after all. At least Pantherlily was walking through the crowds and would probably bring back some good information.

"Thank you." Shagon pressed her long, sun-bleached hair back behind her ears in an embarrassed gesture. "I would say you and your husband are to, but you seem so …different to me. You're so cute and he's so ….scary."

Levy gave a disdainful look, then shrugged. "There's an old saying that opposites attract. You might say that includes us. And he's not scary." Now. She amended to herself.

"Oh." Shagon nodded thoughtfully, then glanced behind them at where Gajeel stood by himself, watching everyone with his arms folded across his chest in a rather intimidating manner. "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

Levy, mindful of her need to stay close to a source of potential information, nodded a bit reluctantly. She wondered what the other young woman might want to know and just hoped it wasn't something too …intimate.

"Are mage guilds …well, we hear stories out in the farming communities. How they are so much more …well, free. That there is a lot of drinking and carrying on and the like."

Levy blinked several times in rapid succession. Not where she thought the question would go. She quickly reordered her thinking in order to answer. "Well. Some drink more than others, and some not at all. As for carrying on, well, we date and the like but I don't think more or less so than anyone else. In fact, probably less so since we go out on jobs all the time, makes it hard."

Shagon blushed slightly and nodded, though she seemed almost disappointed in the rather normal sounding answer. "Were you and Gajeel together before the wedding? Oh dear, is that bad for me to ask? Normally I wouldn't dare."

"We hadn't dated long." Levy said, still friendly even as she looked around at the other passengers, trying to peg who else might be a newlywed couple. Actually, there were several potential ones.

"No ..er, I mean …together." The words didn't give Levy her clue on what was being asked, it was the embarrassed blush heating up the cheeks of the other woman.

"Oh." Levy hesitated. She had a cover story, had even discussed it with Gajeel before leaving Magnolia. But suddenly the words were hard to say and she couldn't understand why. It was just a story for the job. "Well. Honestly, we had to get married rather quickly. Hopefully by the time we come back home my father and brothers will have forgiven us and will accept us back." She leaned in to sell the performance. "My family was quite put out with the two of us. And it won't be just the two of us for very long."

The other woman's eyes dropped to Levy's small waist as if calculating time. "Two months?"

Levy gave a jerky little nod, pretending to be a young woman caught out and pregnant while marrying against family wishes.

"Well, at least our guys step up for themselves." Shagon said with a tremulous voice full of meaning.

"You too!" Levy acted surprised, she'd guessed already from some observations throughout their shared train ride over the past day and a half.

"Actually, sadly, I'm glad I'm not the only one." The other woman smiled at her as if this shared condition made the two of them a team somehow. "My family made me feel like a disappointment when we had to move our wedding up by six months, even though we were already engaged!"

"My family was shocked and pretty much appalled." Levy said, thinking of Jet and Droy. "They think I'm an idiot for even being around him."

Behind Shagon's shoulder Levy could see Gajeel give a quick smile and wondered what had amused him? She knew Dragonslayer senses were really good, including hearing, but they were quite a bit away from him with several loud conversations being held all around them. Surely he couldn't hear this whispered exchange.

Shagon's eyes rounded in understanding, shock and a bit of awe. "Was he upset when you found out? About the baby? He didn't mind? That you …uh, well …"

Levy made a mental note to relate an edited account of this conversation to Gajeel, so their stories would match up. "He didn't mind getting me this way." She said with a bit of snap in her voice as she patted her flat stomach. "And no, he didn't complain about having to get married."

Suddenly Shagon giggled even as she blushed hotter. "Oh no, they certainly don't mind THAT part."

Shagon leaned in very close, almost conspiratorially. "I didn't care for it at first, but Phen promised it would get better, and it did. What about you?"

Levy had hoped she'd escaped this line of questioning and cast a quick look at the railway employees. They were taking their own sweet time in filling the train with necessary supplies. Damn. "Well. The first time is never much beyond awkward." She said, going from what she'd read. Not in research tomes, but in the books she read for pure enjoyment and hid from Cana who never gave them back when she borrowed. Lucy would at least return the books, not Cana though. She never lent them to Laki, as the mage thought they were perverted or something. As for Erza, she just never seemed interested.

She herself loved those books and had several favorites that she'd re-read often. Levy wondered when the next one in the Bosco Border series would be coming out.

Suddenly Levy stiffened, appalled. She was an idiot! She and the others had been away in a suspended state for seven years. That meant that her favorite authors should have published whilst she'd been gone! Several books, lots and lots of books! Her fingers twitched and she made an antsy, needy sound in the back of her throat. She needed a bookstore. Right now. Instead of having to wait for something to come out, she could binge to her heart's delight!

"Something wrong?"

"No. No. In fact, it's very, very good." Levy said in a breathless little voice that had new raspiness, her heartrate picking up significantly.

"Is your stomach alright?" Shagon sounded worried. She made vague gestures that took Levy a moment to decipher.

Stomach? Oh. The baby she didn't really have. Levy forced herself to calm down, though she fairly tingled with the need to race toward finding those wonderful books she knew were waiting for her! "I'm fine."

"I don't …." Shagon threw a worried glance behind her at Gajeel, who hadn't moved. "Oh Levy, it's scary enough being responsible for someone else. I don't know how you can be so brave."

Levy's racing thoughts screeched to a standstill. Brave? Was Shagon intimating something about Gajeel? She had called him scary once already. "Look, I know he can appear rather rough, but he is actually very protective." She said, remembering the time he'd taken a lightning strike for her and deliberately pushing aside all memory of anything before that.

"No!" Shagon shook her head in quick denial. "I meant his size! You're so tiny and I mean, look at your husband's shoulders! Aren't you terrified of giving birth? Any child of his will be huge!"

Levy went limp as she let her anger dissipate. And surprisingly enough to herself she realized that she had been angry. Upset on Gajeel's behalf for any implied insult. "We have an excellent healer." She said, then reconsidered. Actually Wendy was too young for delivering babies, they'd have to go to Porlyusica instead. She grimaced at the thought of the grouchy older woman examining her, then sighed heavily. Idiot. What was wrong with her? There would be no need and no examination. They weren't really pregnant!

"That's good. I guess." Shagon didn't sound convinced. She threw another look over her shoulder at Gajeel as if worried.

Levy frowned. She didn't like the way the other woman acted like there was something to fear. Alright yes, Gajeel hadn't always been someone she could count on and trust, but Shagon couldn't know that. So why was the other woman acting all weird?

"He's awfully large."

Was it her imagination or was there an implied question in that statement? Levy nodded, the observation wasn't really warranted in her opinion. Gajeel's height was not exactly hidden. And anyone could see how broad his shoulders were, how finely his muscles were cut.

"Is he …er, that is …large all over?"

Levy, innocent that she was despite her reading habits, didn't understand the question at first. It took at least ten seconds for her face to light up like the setting sun and her eyes to widen in shock. She shook her head wildly as she rushed to speak. "I don't think that's really something you should be asking me!" Women didn't really talk about these things, surely not? Well. Cana might, but not the others. Really. Or at least she hoped.

Shagon's head drooped and she apologized quickly, her face also reddened with a blush. "I just wondered if …I mean, he's got those piercings all over, so many of them. Is it …it …, you know, …it …does he have those metal studs …there? Does that make it feel different? Does it feel strange?"

Levy nearly fainted at the suggestion, having never even thought along those lines. She swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry as dust, especially as she realized that Gajeel was walking over toward them. She hissed at Shagon who thankfully didn't say anything else as the large man joined them.

"They say we can board the train now." Gajeel's deep voice rumbled over them and Levy actually shivered as her skin prickled. Hyperaware of him at the moment she tried to go around him, but his reach was long enough to capture her upper arm and draw her to his side as the others moved toward the train.

The Dragonslayer leaned in and bent over so that his lips were right next to her ear. His whisper made her stomach feel like there were butterflies dancing inside her as his heated breath tickled her overheated skin.

"I think you skipped a chapter in that book you're reading us." He said.

Levy could suddenly breathe again, dark spots disappearing from in front of her vision. She licked her lips nervously as she shook her head in denial.

"I think you're skipping over the sexy bits." He teased.

Well. True. Levy gave a jerky sort-of shrug. "Read it yourself if you want." She wasn't going to read the more salacious scenes out loud to both Gajeel and Pantherlily. She'd rather face the S-class trials again. Alone. "We need to get back on the train."

"Do you have sensitive ears?" Gajeel huffed a long breath against her earlobe and she nearly went up in flames. Or melted. Never mind that these were opposite reactions. "Is that why you don't have them pierced?"

Levy shivered, unable to answer as she tried to step away.

"Well. I do have sensitive ears." He whispered. "And congratulations on expecting our child. Sorry about my shoulders."

"You could hear?" She gasped, mortified.

He grinned suddenly and Levy nearly fainted, knowing he was about to say something utterly outrageous. "If you want to know if anything else is pierced, I invite you to check for yourself. If you don't want a test drive then use another method. Hands, mouth or eyes. Your pick, though if you ask nicely I'll tell you my preference."

Levy's body contracted, each and every muscle inside her quivered for a moment and she felt like her skin might actually be on fire. Slowly she turned a wild look at him and found him smugly watching her. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. She might be small and vulnerable, but she wasn't without weapons over her own. He'd taught her the necessity of that.

Her fingers moved as she spelled a word that she called out defiantly.

Gajeel's eyes widened with shock and distress as both his hands grabbed at his throat. Gagging noises erupted from him as she turned away, walking toward the train without alone.

"Don't be late. I think they might leave you behind." She gave him one parting shot as she climbed back aboard, though not looking back. Levy was halfway down the aisle when she felt him behind her, bounding onto the train while still hacking and coughing.

Pantherlily, already on 'their' bench seat, looked up in wonder. "Has Gajeel gone rabid?" He asked in a hushed tone of concern.

"No. I just washed his mouth out with soap." Levy said in a calm but stern voice as she sat down rather primly on the bench seat, smoothing her skirt down with a small movement of her hands.

Gajeel whipped off his shirt and desperately tried to wipe the white, foamy bubbles off of his lips and tongue. She ignored his plight, waiting for him to finish. It took nearly fifteen minutes before he dropped down next to her and roughly dropped an arm around her shoulder.

"Put your shirt back on!" Levy groused, embarrassed and yet contrarily liking the feel of his bared skin. He smelled like a hint of spice, something wholly masculine. She licked her lips and looked out the window, but didn't try to pull away all while telling herself it was because of the job they were on.

With his other arm Gajeel reached across and used his index finger to press lightly against the skin of her chin. Using very light pressure he urged her to turn back toward him. "Mean." He chided, looking riled but not necessarily angry.

"I could have used something far worse than soap." She said in what she hoped was a menacing tone of voice that was probably ruined by the slight tremor even she could hear.

Gajeel blinked down at her and nodded in understanding. "Why didn't you do that before?"

When she'd been attacked by him.

"It was something I developed in your honor." She gave him a snarl-smile that was ruined by her absolute adorability in his opinion.

Gajeel nodded at her, perversely proud at this new use for her Solid Script magic. "Never waste your time with feathers and soap. Go for the really nasty when you need to fight back."

Levy blinked up at him in uncertainty. Why did he look pleased? "It wouldn't have stopped you." She said hesitatingly. "Something gross would have only angered you more. Made things worse."

Red eyes turned serious as his arm tightened around her. "A mouthful of shit would have pissed me off and made everything go much worse against you, yes. But a mouthful of poison? Or something to paralyze? Or how about something in order to knock a person out?"

Levy flushed slightly. Offensive magic wasn't really her strong suit and thinking in that manner was different for her. "Those aren't easy spells. I'm having to craft them myself. I'm still working on it."

He suddenly beamed at her. "You can do that?" Gajeel asked her, looking at her as if a bit in awe. "Make new ones? The feathers and the soap are all yours?"

Unable to help herself, Levy realized that his approval made her feel really good which was silly. She didn't need applause or anything like that. Really not. She looked away, blushing even as she nodded at him. "My magic deals in words, it's a matter of refinement and application."

"Soap was a nice touch. But you need something to incapacitate." The man she'd inadvertently married continued.

Levy looked down at her hands caught in her lap. He had a good point, actually.

"Just can you try not to use those on me?" Gajeel said, his voice whinging a bit though there was some laughter in there too.

"You deserved it." She said, not looking up at him.

"Perhaps." He admitted grudgingly. "Levy I …you should keep those spells handy." Gajeel warned her. "Maybe work on something stronger, to keep me away."

Levy blinked up at him in wonder. His red eyes were serious. He meant what he was saying. "You're my part…husband."

Long dark hair moved as he shook his head at her and she reached out, catching a handful of the wild stuff. "Don't. I'm not good at being good."

He sounded lost and it tore at her heart in a manner that any argument couldn't have touched. "Gajeel."

"If you don't want to end up making our cover story a reality, you need to run from me." He told her flat out and let her go. Moving to recline against the seat, his massive arms crossed over his chest as he closed his eyes. "Shrimp, I'll try to stay away, but make no promises."

Levy's bronze eyes widened and she hiccupped from out of nowhere, her hands moving up to cover her mouth.

She turned to look around them, realizing that Phen and Shagon hadn't taken their seats yet and the only one to overhear their conversation was the Exceed cat, Pantherlily.

The feline looked at her and the two fell into something of a staring contest until she hiccupped again, ruining the effect.

Levy McGarden Redfox turned and looked out of the train window as she felt the car lurch beneath her in preparation for continuing their journey.

She had a decision to make.

First? She was attracted, of course she was, she wasn't an idiot after all. But. Gajeel had hurt her on their initial meeting. Sometimes that feeling of helpless rage could still rear its ugly head. On the other hand, she'd seen him evolve into a protective mage, who would fight to the death to make sure she was safe. He was rough and could be mean. He was kind and could be ….Levy hiccupped again and shook her head.

Pros and cons be damned. She already knew her decision. She just wondered if she had anything in her piles of luggage that would be good for seducing her husband.

o.o.o.o.o

"Well?"

"Our information is on target. They are a real couple, it just screams out at anyone near them."

"Good. Threaten one and the other will fall in line."

"I don't know about this. They are mages."

"We need mages now, not getting it done with plain labor anymore. No. We want to find what we're looking for, we need magic." The man grinned savagely. "Fairy Tail wizards aren't very highly ranked. You saw the last time they competed at the Grand Magic Games. But they should have enough to find the treasure."

"Why don't we just hire them, like with a job?"

"Naw, they'd find it and keep it for themselves. No. This way is better. Way better. Trust me."

"I do, Phen. I do." The woman smiled at him before turning to head back toward their targets.


	8. Fun and games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No lemon, not yet. But earning my rating with suggestive themes, imagery, and language ....

It was one thing to decide to seduce a man. It was another thing staring at the bed. Levy could feel her cheeks heating up alarmingly as Gajeel worked to bring up their luggage. Well, her luggage anyway.

He was grumbling and making noises about women and their incessant need to fill up bags with 'nonsense'. But Levy could tell he wasn't really angry. A growing familiarity with the iron Dragonslayer was helping her be able to read his emotions better.

Take anger for example. There were levels. If she were to apply a numerical scale, this was a level one or two irritation for him. And ….well, drat. What this really, really was? Avoidance. For her. Level 12 out of ten.

Her eyes moved back toward the bed. The large, comfortable looking bed. The only one in their shared room. Levy's gaze shifted over to the couch. One that looked rather slouchy and had seen better days, and one that didn't look like it would accommodate Gajeel's height even if he were so inclined to sleep there.

"Drat!" She muttered, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head, soft tendrils of her hair brushing the sides of her face. This was a GOOD thing for her, right? This meant that Gajeel would be sleeping in the bed with her. She hesitated. Unless he expected her to sleep on the couch.

Which wasn't a bad idea. Except she had decided to seduce Gajeel. So, not a good idea to be sleeping apart from him. Her stomach turned over nervously. Could she even do that? Should she?

Levy sighed lightly, wishing she had her friends here to discuss this with. Her lips firmed as she mentally called them up in an exercise of decision making.

A poll. Okay. First. Jet and Droy. Levy bit her lip and smiled as she imagined their reaction should she have asked them about seducing Gajeel. Two negatives. So. Who would be on the positive end?

Cana. The card mage had been teasing Levy about her innocence for about a year now. Technically eight years now if you counted the time spent in suspension on Tenrou. Levy chuckled. One for, two against. Though Cana might have a problem with whom she wanted to sleep with.

Lu-chan? Lucy …that was tougher. Levy sighed. Lucy would be a good sounding board, but ultimately she'd trust any decision that Levy made in either direction. No help.

Natsu? Probably wouldn't understand the question. Gray would be against on general principle. Juvia? Well now. Juvia was friends with Gajeel, how would she see this development.

So. Basically. One maybe and many, many negatives.

"Oy. Shrimp-girl. You losing it? I said I'm heading down to the pool. I need to cool off. Hey! You listening?"

Startled, Levy turned and the world tilted on its axis and stopped spinning.

Gajeel Redfox stood there in their shared room only feet from a bed they'd be sleeping in together. His chest was bare, which wasn't that surprising considering the fact that he'd never put a fresh one on since the train ride. It was his feet.

Such a ridiculous thing. Levy's eyes went to his bare toes on the rather shaggy carpet and it felt intimate. Domestic. As if they were really married. The thought shook her and all mental decision making charts flew apart and shredded in that instant.

"Hey. Did you buy me swim trunks while you shopped? No big if you didn't. I saw a shop downstairs." Gajeel stared at the bags containing her purchases and reached in, dragging out an iron-gray shirt. "Soft. I like this, thanks."

Emotion swelled up within her as she saw the simple pleasure on his face. Levy knew the bare bones of Gajeel's history, the entire guild did. When he'd first arrived and everyone had been in an uproar, Juvia had shared some things. Natsu had also provided some context. Most in the guild had seen the fire Dragonslayer grow up, and heard him going on and on about finding his lost father, Igneel. They'd experienced his highs and lows whenever a rumor of a dragon sighting came his way. They'd shared his pain. Turned out that Gajeel had a dragon for a foster father as well, one who had vanished on the same day as Igneel.

That knowledge alone had cooled some of the more hot-headed in their guild and given Gajeel a chance to show them his real self. Knowing and living with Natsu and his loneliness and pain, and loving him, had translated into giving Gajeel a chance.

Which all meant, standing here alone in a room with the man, and seeing him be surprised and pleased with the fact that someone had gone to the trouble of picking out a soft shirt for him ….Levy's eyes moistened her heart swelled. "I didn't know what you had brought, but yes, I did bring you a bathing costume though I'm not sure what bag it's in."

o.o.o.o.o

Gajeel was a man used to balance. He was a fighter and good balance was a basic requirement for survival. Levy had a way of destroying his equilibrium.

He watched as the tiny blue fairy that the law said was his wife dug through piles of bags to find something for him to go swimming in.

The couch was covered in shirts, trousers, a nice belt and even a brand new toothbrush. Thick socks and some boxer shorts that he sneered at. He hadn't been kidding about not wearing any. Suddenly he coughed, swallowing wrong. There were no sleep pants. Levy hadn't thought about that. Or had she? Had she neglected to buy any in the hopes that they wouldn't be needed? The top of his head nearly came off before he violently shook his head while she was looking away.

The boxers. Hell. He'd get a chance to wear them after all. Or sleep clothed. Yeah. Maybe. He needed some barrier between them if he was going to keep his hands off.

Gajeel scowled darkly, his thoughts grim. He wanted Levy, well why the hell not? He was male and she was cute and pretty and sexy and it was simple biology. Which was a lie and he knew it. He wanted her. Levy. Not just anyone. But he needed to repair what he'd damaged when they'd first met. He needed her to see him as someone to trust and asshole comments aside, he needed to keep his hands to himself. At least for right now.

"What? You don't like the color?"

Startled, Gajeel's red eyes slid over to Levy who looked worried as she eyed his scowl. She was holding up a pair of slate-blue trunks.

"'bout time." He growled, nabbing them as he walked by her into the bathroom. Halfway across the threshold he mentally kicked his own ass. He shouted out behind him. "Er …thanks."

He unfastened his trousers, something else Levy had picked out for him, which he rather appreciated. No one had ever cared enough about him to worry about his clothing, not even Metalicana. The dragon had been satisfied as long as Gajeel and his clothing had been clean enough not to foul the dragon's sensitive sense of smell.

"Gajeel? OH! Oh, stupid ….shut the door!"

He peeked around the corner, his trousers still on one ankle, bare as the day he'd been born. Gajeel grinned widely, showing off a smile worthy of any dragon son, including the flash of fang. "You knew I was changing."

"Well, I didn't think you'd start until the door shut!" Levy wailed, clearly embarrassed.

Vow to be nice and get Levy to trust him? Yeah. It didn't stop his mouth. "You just wanted to use those eyes on me, check to see if things down under are pierced. I don't mind. Though I would have rather you chosen hands or mouth to check me out." He winced heavily as he heard her screech from the other room.

"You are horrid!"

Gajeel could only agree as he gave himself a chastened look in the bathroom mirror. That had been a dick thing to say. About his dick. His amusement stirred and he gave himself a cocky half-smile. Cocky. He laughed aloud at himself.

"It's not funny!" Levy shouted from the other room.

Gajeel shrugged, not bothering to explain his perverse sense of humor. He finished changing and even rubbed at the indelible words Levy had inked onto his abdomen earlier. Yeah, that wasn't coming off anytime soon.

He walked out of the bathroom, running a finger around the waistband of his trunks to make it settle comfortably and then he froze, stunned. Levy had taken the opportunity to change into a swimsuit of her own.

A modest two-piece with a skirt.

His heart skipped a few beats and his fingers and palms started to itch as he stared.

Levy was going through the bags still on the couch, her butt in the air and the short swim skirt doing nothing to hide her from his view. His mouth literally watered and he railed at himself for being a worthless and ravening jerk. It wasn't helping much. What else wasn't helping? The new swim trunks were doing nothing, nothing to hide his physical reaction.

o.o.o.o.o

Levy had run around and grabbed one of her swimsuits as soon as Gajeel had even stepped toward the bathroom. She needed to move fast if she wanted him to walk out and find her in a sultry pose wearing a bikini.

Problem. Her swimsuits, even the two-piece ones, didn't run toward sultry. They were cute. Adorable. She loved them. They weren't sexy though. Second problem. Where to change? Gajeel was in the bathroom. Which meant theoretically she could change in the room. Only he hadn't shut the door.

More problems. With that dratted door open she felt faint, he was just a few feet away and getting undressed. No barrier between she and a naked Gajeel. Which was the damnable point in trying to seduce him! Yet the thought alone left her feeling woozy.

She'd raced into the tiny closet and fumbled quickly into her swimsuit. In the dark, as the light didn't work in here. Rushing out, she'd been relieved to find that he hadn't beat her out there.

Okay, okay. Sultry pose. Levy tried a few and started to feel more and more ridiculous with each passing moment. Seduction? Her? She was only making a fool of herself.

Maybe she could buy a new swim outfit in the resort's shops? The prices would be exorbitant and she needed to watch her spending, as she had still to pay back Jet and Droy for seven years of paying the rent on her apartment.

Levy looked down at her feet, her bare toes peeking up at her from the thick carpet. The same carpet that Gajeel's bare feet had been touching. Silly, silly thought. It nearly melted her poor brain.

Shaking herself off, she remembered buying a cheap pair of sandals for Gajeel, just for poolside or the beach. She hurried to the bags from her shopping trip, digging through them while Gajeel came into to the room.

Not that he said anything, but she could feel him. Standing there. She blushed. So much for seduction or sultry poses. She wasn't capable of such. Pasting on a smile she turned only to see him escaping back into the bathroom. This time the door slammed shut behind him.

"Gajeel?"

"Forgot to rinse off." He shouted back at her. "You go on down!"

Levy bit her lip, devastated. Sure she hadn't been posing for him when he came out here, but she'd not made any impression on him at all. He'd not spared her a single glance before going to get ready to swim. He didn't even want her to wait for him.

A growled expletive from the bathroom had her eyes snapping back open as she stared at the closed door. "You alright?"

"Water's freezing!" He barked.

"You should have waited for it to warm up before turning it on!" She scolded, then grimaced. She sounded more like a sister than a wife. "I'll go on downstairs. Do you want me to order you a drink?"

She didn't get a response, which sunk her mood even lower.

o.o.o.o.o

Gajeel braced his hands on the tile in the shower, letting the freezing water he'd deliberately chosen, beat down on his back and run down his body.

He'd heard men talk about taking cold showers before, in order to cool off their bodies and to kill an erection when necessary. He only hoped it worked. He'd never had to take one before, but he thought he might have to get used to it seeing as how he was staying in a room with Levy McGarden. For several weeks. Alone.

"Fuck." He bit out the word. The freezing water wasn't helping much! Physical training in extreme conditions had left him with a high tolerance for such trivial matters.

Cursing, he swung the temperature control to something approaching boiling hot instead. His hand going down his body. There was another way.

o.o.o.o.o

"Where's Gajeel?" Pantherlily sat in the shade of the umbrella on a cushion Levy had snitched for him from another lounge chair.

"Bathing." Levy said, trying to sound normal and not devastated. She decided to divert the Exceed cat from her erstwhile husband. "Find anything?" She asked of his decision to roam some of the resort while she and Gajeel had checked into the room.

"They have excellent kiwi juice." The cat yawned widely.

"Lily!"

The black cat chuckled, looking unconcerned and not even bothering to open his eyes. "The lady who protested my having a ticket on the train? Is the owner of this resort. She's also the one who posted the job in the guild."

"Oh." Levy settled down, leaning back in her chair and letting the sun warm her body. Across the pool she spotted Phen and Shagon. The woman gave her the classic thumbs up hand sign and patted her stomach, indicating she approved the bathing suit. She made a self-depreciating wave at her own one-piece that showed off the slightest hint of a baby bump.

Levy's face flamed. She'd been so intent on seducing Gajeel that she'd forgotten part of her cover story about being pregnant! Rookie mistake! And it hadn't even worked ….

"Rumor has a few couples disappearing over the course of this past year. At first it looked like runaway marriages who just decided not to go back home. But there have been six now. That's more than a coincidence, at least according to Ms. Milestone, our benefactor. Whom I still don't like."

Levy made an agreeing sort of noise and let the cat continue.

"She suggested that you and Gajeel get involved in all the activities out here, as that's what most of the couples did before vanishing."

Levy nodded thoughtfully. "Did they disappear from the resort or from the train station? Somewhere else?"

"Good question." Lily actually blinked and looked over at her. "No, not all the couples were staying here, but four of the six were. They vanished, taking all their luggage with them, but having already paid up for several more days or having train reservations that were at least a week in the future."

"So. They all had expected to stay longer." Levy mused the information, picking it apart with her sharp mind. "Doesn't sound like they'd just run off and not asked for a refund. Our information stated these were not wealthy couples and no ransom had been demanded."

"Exactly so." Lily agreed. "And. At least three of the couples were expecting a child already. According to gossip."

"Gossip?" A deep voice grumbled from behind the two of them. Gajeel reached over the top of Levy's lounge chair and snitched her drink. He sucked on the straw and kept going, drinking down at least half of it. Then he had the gall to pull a face and complain. "Fruit juice!"

Levy snarled at him and pointed at the bar on the far end of the pool. "I would have ordered you a beer, but I thought you might like it cold rather than sitting out. Took you long enough to rinse off." She snarked.

Gajeel said nothing as he threw himself into the lounge chair next to hers. "In a minute. I just need to stretch out, feeling cramped from the train ride and serving as your seat."

Levy sputtered, incensed. "You pulled me on top of you! And the train was crowded."

Gajeel grinned as he listened to her harangue him. Good. He needed her mad at him and not soft, sweet, and looking delectable.

Lily's head came up. He'd not said anything about the Dragonslayer's approach, but a stranger was another matter. "Heads up. Activity director approaching."

"Hi! I'm Sally!" Came the too sunny, too chipper, and completely annoying high-pitched voice.

Levy threw Gajeel a warning glare as he started to growl at the curvy blonde with the too-tight shirt. Though it pleased her that he didn't seem impressed.

o.o.o.o.o

"I'm going to kill Sally." Gajeel whispered in Levy's ear.

"We're getting paid for this." The blue-haired mage reminded him that they were participating for a reason. "Now put it on."

The Dragonslayer glared at her, but gamely wrapped the belt around his hips. Right in front was a scooped out half of a coconut shell. He did NOT want to know what it was for.

They'd already played beach volleyball with wives atop their husband's shoulders. He and Levy had won of course, as he had zero difficulties playing with her slight weight on top of him. His problem had been enjoying it too, too much. Especially as he'd been able to hold her thighs when they ran, ostensibly to keep her from falling, but more because he wanted to touch.

They'd come in third in the wheelbarrow race. He and the rest of the husbands had been the ones in the conveyances while the wives had to push. Levy had dumped him out three times as they'd raced around the course, though most of the husbands had met the same fate. It had been hilarious and fun and he'd yelled at Levy while she'd laughed in his face. Deny as he might, it had been a blast.

They'd lost the fireman's race, where they had to run around and change into clothes of the opposite gender. Gajeel had lost points for trying to wedge his wide chest into a size A bra and it had torn down the back while Levy had been on the ground laughing at him. Turnabout had been fair play as she'd fallen at least seven times trying to run in men's shoes at least 3 times larger than her feet.

Now it was this thing. Gajeel snarled as Sally made her chipper way down the line of husbands and deposited a water balloon in each scooped out coconut shell.

"Wives! Your job is to retrieve the balloon and bring it to me!" Sally winked and laughed in a suggestive way. "Only you can't use your hands."

Gajeel looked up at that, and then down at the coconut shell resting right above his privates. He leered suddenly and barked out a laugh. He wasn't the only husband to do so either.

Phen grinned and punched Gajeel in the arm in good natured fun, waggling his eyebrows as Shagon blushed.

Levy raised her hand. "Can we use teeth?" She asked, wondering at the rules and then going red in the face as the entire group burst out laughing at her.

Gajeel swallowed hard and wondered if he could throw himself into the ocean right now. Would it be cold enough? He doubted it. He stared at Levy and cursed himself. Why was he trying to be a decent guy again? "You can use anything you got, Fairy-girl."

Levy looked away, mortified and embarrassed, and really happy with the heated look that Gajeel had used.

Sally grinned and pointed at Levy. "Teeth are allowed, but remember, break the balloon and you lose. Don't want to damage what you find down there!" She called out with a wicked grin.

In the end they didn't win. Levy was able to use her chin and chest to trap the balloon and get it to Sally, but she'd been less than graceful and had bumped and pushed Gajeel rather intimately while doing so. Which was the point of the 'game' in the first place.

When Levy returned with her third place prize of a lollipop, Gajeel looked down at her and scowled, demanding that she not eat that right now.

"Why?" Levy had wanted to know, not that it mattered.

"Sand." He said, turning away with an odd look on his face. Beside him Phen laughed and shook his head, making a comment on how Levy was still so innocent.

Shagon walked over and leaned in, explaining to a wildly blushing Levy about sucking on phallic symbols in front of a needy male. How suggestive and sensual it could be.

Levy, instead of being embarrassed, smiled. A lollipop? Her plan had seducing her husband took a turn. Alright, so she didn't have the right swimsuit or lingerie. But if Shagon was to be believed, she now had a weapon in this piece of candied treat. Excellent. She'd eat it tonight. In the room. Alone with Gajeel. With no sand in sight.

The Dragonslayer looked over at his wife as Sally started explaining the last game. Levy looked rather smug, making him wonder what she was thinking.

o.o.o.o.o

"Ping-pong balls?" Gajeel held the empty tissue box while Sally filled it with the eponymous white game balls.

"Your job is to shake every last one of these suckers right out!" Sally grinned up at him. "And it will be strapped around your waist."

Gajeel rolled his eyes and nodded.

Sally looked down at his toned abdomen and the words emblazoned there. "Levy is one lucky woman." She said, walking away as Gajeel actually blushed a bit around the edges of his cheekbones. Her voice had held admiration and a hint of remorse, but hadn't been a come-on. A compliment.

Gajeel had no idea how to handle a compliment.

Levy walked over to him, seeing his discomfiture. "I am lucky." She teased as she walked by him.

Gajeel watched her walk away, liking the soft sway of her hips that wasn't over exaggerated for effect. Levy didn't have to try in order to garner his attention, she just had to be herself. He groaned. At least the sun, sand, and crowd were keeping him in control and with his hands off of Levy for the most part.

She threw a shy look back at him and gestured at him to hurry up and put on the tissue box.

Gajeel sighed, though he was glad it was him here and not Jet or Droy. Those guys would have fallen all over themselves by now. He doubted they could even have focused on the job at hand.

When the music started, Levy and the other ladies laughed themselves silly at the antics of the men. They shook their hips looking utterly uncoordinated and in the end Gajeel had shaken loose the entire box at least three times, but not a single ping-pong ball.

Sally grinned as she called for applause, then held up a hand for attention. "Ladies, ladies! Let's show the men how it's supposed to be done."

Gajeel grumped, hating to lose at anything, even something as silly as this game. He watched as Levy attached the belt with the box on it around her hips. It was too big, even at the smallest setting. He grinned. "You won't shake loose a single ball."

Levy gave him a glare, and when the music started, Gajeel nearly swallowed his tongue.

Women's hips were meant for shaking. That's all there was to it. Red-eyed pupils narrowed and his mouth suddenly went dry.

Levy shimmied and shook and ping-pong balls when flying out of the narrow box opening. Gajeel didn't see a single ball. What he saw was the move of her hips calling to him, showing him how they could move and wondering how those moves would feel with him buried deep within her body.

When she was done and declared the winner, Gajeel finally blinked and wondered if there was enough ice water in the hotel for the shower he'd need after this.

o.o.o.o.o

Levy wondered at Gajeel's mood. He barely looked at her the entire evening. Dinner had been a trial of grunted one-word answers. When she'd called him on his behavior he'd lectured her on being alert and doing their job.

Lectured her!

Levy fumed and trailed after him to their room. He wouldn't even be a gentleman and escort her, letting her go first. No. Gajeel had said something stupid about protecting her and stomped noisily down the hall.

Pantherlily had watched all afternoon and evening and now he trotted along beside Levy. She looked down at the cat and he sighed, not wanting to explain to the human girl that her rear-end was distracting to the Dragonslayer.

By the time they'd both gotten ready for the night, Levy was about ready to scream. Her head should have hurt by all rights considering how tense she felt. She kicked her sandals into the dark closet and felt some satisfaction when they hit the far wall.

"Don't tear up the room or we'll have to pay for damages." Gajeel barked at her.

Levy made an immature face behind his back.

She'd changed first and when she came out of the bathroom in a short skirted nighty with yellow flowers along the hem he'd laughed at her and wondered aloud if they were yellow ducks instead.

Levy had fumed while he'd been changing and eyed the couch. Maybe she should insist he take it. Yes. It was too short for him and would be torture for Gajeel. She decided he was sleeping on the couch.

The dragonslayer walked out of the bathroom wearing a simple t-shirt and a pair of boxers. Both of which Levy had bought for him with his money. It was two pieces of clothing more than he usually wore to bed.

He spotted the pillow and blankets on the couch and frowned sharply. Gajeel wasn't stupid. Levy was angry at him, which had been his goal. But the sight of that couch deterred him. It would be better to sleep out here, though probably on the floor as the couch would kill him. Or he could make her sleep out here.

He didn't even think on the matter, he simply threw himself onto the bed. Lacing his fingers behind his head, he whistled and ordered his wife to turn out the lights.

Levy fumed and got up, marching across the room to the switch. That's when she realized she was doing what he'd ordered her to do. "I didn't promise to obey you." She snarled, and instead of turning off the light, looked over at the dresser.

She grabbed the lollipop from earlier and unwrapped it. Looking deliberately over at him she popped it into her mouth, wrapping her lips around it and sucking audibly.

Gajeel's eyes turned dangerous as he glared at her. "Stop."

Levy pulled the lollipop out of her mouth slowly, taking her time in order to irk him. Then she licked her lips, tasting the sweetness there. "Again. Didn't agree to the vow of obey."

Pantherlily looked back and forth between the two and walked over to the door. "I'm finding other accomodations."

"Stay." Levy told the Exceed.

"Not on your life." Lily said direly, walking out the door without a backwards glance. "Good luck."

"Was that for me or you?" Levy raised her eyebrows.

Gajeel sneered and pointed at her. She opened her mouth and made as if to suck on the lollipop again.

"Don't you dare."

Levy eyed him, then stuck out her tongue and licked the candy treat up, and then down.

Gajeel was off the bed and slamming his hands against the wall on either side of her head before she could blink. "Levy, I'm trying to be good here."

"Badly." She retorted, then tilted her head to one side. "Why?"

He blinked three times and then gave her an evil grin. "Right now, I can't think of a single reason."

Levy reached out and pushed against his chest. He didn't move. "Look. You've made it abundantly clear that I'm not your type and that you have no interest in me. So why don't ….hmfph!"

Bronze eyes went wide with shock then closed slowly as he kissed her. He pressed his lips against hers, nuzzling her until she accepted his invitation and opened her mouth. Unlike the kiss on the train, he took his time. Tasting her mouth, exploring, building sensation upon sensation. Finally he pulled back. "Not interested?"

Levy stared at him in a hazy type of wonder.

"Sweetheart, you have no idea." His words were a dangerous croon that did funny things to her insides. She shivered in anticipation.

He leaned in and captured her lower lip between his teeth. Pulling until she whimpered and leaned forward for another drugging kiss.

The door to their room slammed open and Pantherlily rushed inside. "I'm not looking!"

"You'd best be leaving!" Gajeel responded in mimicry of the cat's voice and tone.

"The guards are downstairs. There's another missing couple." Pantherlily said, effectively putting an end to all other considerations.

Gajeel stomped out the door, cursing.

Levy took a moment to breathe deeply, trying to calm her speeding heartrate. Then she yelped and ran to yell down the hallway. "Clothes!"

"I'm not Gray!" He yelled back.

"You're also not dressed! Look down!" She retorted, then stepped aside as he moved by her to grab his trousers.

Gajeel refused to meet her eyes as he moved back out into the hall. She'd been right, of course. He wasn't used to boxers. Who knew that they didn't hold even a semi erection back, or even cover it effectively? Well, he did now.


	9. A perfect spoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning of adult content. Pretty much the whole chapter. Read at your own risk ....or/of enjoyment!

"Damn it, Lily!" Gajeel reached out blindly as he entered their hotel room. His hand fell on bowl of waxed fruit. He picked up a rather oddly shaped pear and he pitched it over the room where it thudded against the far wall and fell onto the bed without fanfare.

The Exceed cat apologized, again. "There were local guardsmen all over the lobby and I distinctly heard them say there was a couple gone missing!"

"Don't blame Pantherlily! A couple did go missing, but it was different. This time they were trying to skip out on their bill." Levy defended Gajeel's feline companion. "But we did manage to learn some very interesting things about our job."

The Dragonslayer sent her an angry look that at one time would have worried her. Now she sent him one right back and in equal measure.

"There were a LOT of guardsmen downstairs." Levy pointed out. "A whole lot more than …."

"We've established that already!" Gajeel roared.

Lily though, paused and turned toward Levy with a thoughtful expression. He ignored Gajeel and his temper, focusing on the blue-haired mage. "Too many for such an event do you think?"

Levy nodded with a crooked line between her eyes as she recalled what had happened downstairs. "This is an expensive resort. Sometimes people find they have overstayed their budget. Maybe it's not common, but I'm sure it happens. This particular couple left without checking out and without paying. The guardsmen caught them and brought them back. Guardsmen who were wearing the resort's symbol, not that of the town. And I do think there are more guards than a place like this could ever use. So why all the muscle?"

Settling down a little, though his temper was still set on simmer, Gajeel ran an agitated hand through his hair. When his fingers encountered a tangle he yanked it loose, causing Levy to wince for him.

Lily though was onto Levy's train of thought. "I didn't consider, but there were a lot of guardsmen for such a docile couple who looked ready to keel over in a strong wind."

"Thieves." Gajeel tugged his fingers through his hair again. Another knot, and some sand. He growled and yanked on his hair without regard.

Levy shook her head at him, trying to get him to stop.

"What I mean is, you're right. There is too much security here." Lily nodded as if coming to a conclusion. "They wouldn't need to hire wizards when they can afford that many guards."

Gajeel stopped finally, his mind shifting things around as he worked it out in his head. "Why call us in? If they have all that hired help?"

Levy watched as Gajeel grabbed some more of his hair, scowling as he tried to work out some more sand. "Stop, you'll be bald by morning." When he shot her an irate look, she gestured for him to sit down. He shook his head. She pointed to the footstool with a stern scowl. He growled. She looked utterly unimpressed. Gajeel, with extremely ill grace, sat.

Lily finally grunted and waved his paws, still thinking furiously. "Alright. They don't need us, but hired us anyway. To what purpose though? I think we need to speak more with Ms. Milestone."

"Who?" Levy asked as she started drawing a brush through Gajeel's hair in short strokes, working out some of the worst tangles with far more care than he'd shown.

The Dragonslayer's red eyes closed and some of the awful tension making his neck feel tight started to fade. Her touch was sure and steady, and yet gentle at the same time. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had brushed his hair. Certainly it had been before Metalicana, for the Dragon wouldn't have cared much less been capable. He leaned into her touch.

Levy noticed the change in him. The closed eyes, the relaxation of his shoulders, and the pleasure he seemed to derive from her ministrations. She smiled, slowing her movements almost to a caress.

"The resort owner." Lily said, then looked over at the two of them. He stared at their expressions and body language. Abruptly the cat blew out a frustrated, yet amused, breath. "Perhaps we should take this up in the morning."

"Now's fine." Levy said at the same time Gajeel said, "later's good."

Pantherlily sighed, walking toward the door. "I'm going to check out the area, I'll be back later." He glanced back at the two of them. "Maybe I need my own room." He then chuckled at the thought of what the redoubtable Ms. Milestone would think of issuing a room to a cat. He left with little fanfare and hoping the night went well for his two human companions.

Levy continued her ministrations, brushing out Gajeel's hair until there wasn't a speck of sand nor a hint of a tangle. Though there was nothing she could do to tame the wild waves in the dark tresses. Which was good, because she secretly liked them. It suited the Dragonslayer's personality somehow.

Silent through the whole thing, Gajeel just sat there and relished the attention from her. Her touch wended through his dark hair, teasing his scalp and rising gooseflesh along his arms. An ache arose all over him, along his skin, craving her attention there. He'd never even known skin could ache like this. His hand rose suddenly and, without looking at her, captured her wrist. She stilled. He drew her around just in front of him, looking up at her face, for with him seated so low she was at last slightly above him.

He tugged. She didn't resist, but slid onto his lap with a small gasp and a lot of color in her cheeks. But her gaze wasn't shy. Her eyes looked like molten bronze as the two refused to look away from each other. Their eyes remained locked even as Gajeel took the brush from her fingers and brought her palm to his mouth, pressing his lips there. Levy's breath hitched for a moment.

"I've tried to be good all day, keep my hands off you." He said, his voice gone raspy and deeper than normal. "You need to run now."

Levy didn't move, she let the silence build between them before finally speaking. "Why?"

Gajeel tightened his grasp on her wrist. "You're afraid. Your pulse is racing now." He swallowed hard as he gave her a smirk. "You're right to be frightened."

"I'm not afraid." She told him bluntly, and still not running away from him. "Unsure, but not afraid."

Gajeel watched her eyes and knew she was telling him the truth. He shook his head at her. "You should be afraid."

"Why?"

"Because the big bad wolf might eat you up, little girl." He said, forcing himself to sound menacing.

"Okay."

Gajeel stared, feeling her pulse, seeing her eyes, and watching as she raised her free hand and reached for him. His head flinched back from her touch for a moment, then he stilled for her. Levy pushed back his hair from the side of his face, trailing her thumb along his sharp cheek bone down to the corner of his mouth.

Levy was finding it difficult to breathe, but it was the heat in Gajeel's eyes when he looked at her that gave her bravery a boost. She was no coward, never had been. But this feeling he elicited from her was new. Not to her mind, but her body. She'd read about heightened passion, in fact she loved to read such stories. Yet she had thought perhaps it was wholly fictional, or at least not for her as she'd never felt this way before.

His lips parted and she traced the line of his bottom lip, dangerously near his teeth that she knew well could chew and devour iron. Was the danger Gajeel represented part of the appeal? She doubted it. Levy had been around highly skilled and dangerous mages for most of her life. None drew her like this man.

Gajeel's red eyes watched her with a wariness that astounded her. HE was afraid, of HER. As if he expected her to cut him up and reject him. Levy didn't like that look in his eyes. She leaned in and his breath stopped, she saw as his throat moved with a swallow reflex. Smiling, Levy pressed her lips to his right eye as it fluttered closed, then his left. Her lips travelled down his cheek past his nose with the metal studs on prominent display. Gajeel tilted his head and their lips met in a slow kiss, moving and gliding over each other while their breaths mingled heatedly between them.

Hesitant hot kisses passed back and forth between them. Small bites and nibbles, exploring, reveling.

He let go of her wrist as his large hands settled along her back. Hers cupped his face. The kiss deepened as he opened his mouth for her. Levy hesitated then sent her tongue forward to meet his. Gajeel marveled as she kissed him, tasting and playing and making his blood heat up from the inside. He moaned, making her smile against his mouth.

His lips moved as if to take control and she pulled back slightly. Gajeel settled back and was rewarded as she leaned against him, her chest brushing lightly against his as she deepened the kiss further. His hands ran heatedly up and down her back, teasing her sides but not encroaching, not yet. He just knew that if he pushed too hard he'd lose everything.

Minutes lengthened as both grew hotter, fidgeting as their breathing became ragged. Finally Gajeel ached far too much to stay silent. "Sweetcake? Shrimp? Please …."

"Those aren't my name." She said with a hint of a bite, her teeth snapping suddenly over his. "I want to make sure you know who it is that you're holding."

Gajeel stared at her, his mind too overwrought to really make sense of her words. "Levy?"

"Better." She caressed his cheeks and nibbled around the studs in his chin before moving back up to his lips. "You'd better remember that and don't mix me up with someone else with all your pet names."

Gajeel nodded, frowning lightly as his brows furrowed. He pulled back from her and growled. "Mix you up with who?"

"Your other girls." Levy glared down at him, her lips puffy and swollen and looking delectable.

"Shrimp. You're the only girl."

Levy's smile grew and grew as she leaned in, tracing his lips with her tongue. "Right answer."

Gajeel shook his head. "I mean ever."

She sat back, staring at him a bit stunned. He suddenly flushed a bit under her shocked expression. "But you're so …and you're ….and how …why not?"

He suddenly chuckled. "Gihee. Your face."

She slapped a hand down on his chest in retaliation. "That wasn't funny!" The blue-haired mage tried to move off of his lap, but his hands tightened and refused to let go.

"Levy. Shrimp. I grew up mean and fast, scrambling to stay alive and make a living. I joined Phantom Lord and trust me, it didn't lend itself to friendships or relationships. Frankly, I had no interest in anything but fighting and training. There wasn't time nor place for a girl like you." Which was probably why his sudden interest in her had struck him so hard, though he didn't share that with her.

"So. I'm the first girl to be sitting here on your lap?" Levy asked him, sounding unsure.

"Shorty, you're the first girl ever to be this close. First anyone."

Bronze eyes widened adorably as she nibbled on her bottom lip, then she gave him a half-smile. It broke her heart to think of him so lonely, and it thrilled her that he was letting her this close. "So. I'm the first one to do this?" She ran the palm of her hand over his chest from one side to the other.

He nodded at her without a change in expression. "It would feel better without the shirt."

Levy tilted her head at him. "For me, or for you?" She teased in a breathy voice.

Gajeel had been teasing, but he wasn't one to let an opportunity slide. He reached for the hem of his shirt, drawing the soft fabric up about half-way. He paused there, gauging her reaction.

Levy caught his look and judged it right. To reassure him, she placed both of her hands flat against his abdomen, making the skin draw back slightly. She pressed and ran her palms up his bare skin to under the shirt and helped him pull it off entirely. The shirt fell onto the floor behind them, and neither cared.

Gajeel cocked an eyebrow at her, as if daring her to go further.

Levy chuckled lithely, knowing he was hoping her forward behavior hadn't run its course. "This is all new to me, too." She reminded him.

"I know." He said with a smug look that had her eyes narrowing on him. "I mean, it is kind of obvious from …oh hell! Fuck!" Gajeel threw his head back as his body bucked beneath her as Levy suddenly leaned in and bit his chest.

"First one here." She murmured as she licked the small wound that hadn't drawn blood. He was panting hard and his hands went to her hips, holding her in place. Or holding on for dear life. "First one here too." She licked one of his flat male nipples and Gajeel shouted out hoarsely. "All mine."

"Oh yeah?" Gajeel straightened up and yanked the hem of her short night dress up and over her head in one smooth move, ignoring any ripping sounds as the two stared at each other in shock.

Levy's arms went across her chest defensively. Her face ignited in a furious red blush, and Gajeel watched the color go down and down until the top of her breasts matched her face.

"Sweetheart …I …." He hesitated, then his brain stalled out as she slowly lowered her arms.

Levy wasn't breathing. She'd been teasing him, and it shouldn't have shocked her so much when he'd reacted. This was Gajeel after all. Strong and rough around the edges. She watched his face for any hint of disappointment about her lack of curves. Not that she had none, but they were rather normal compared to the other ladies in the guild. One comment about her breast size and she was out of there.

What she saw in his eyes though was nothing near disdain. Wonder. Amazement. Need. Desire and heat. Red eyes flicked up to meet her gaze as he leaned forward. Their eyes held in ultimate intimacy as his lips parted, his heated breath covering her nipple and making it stand out as if begging for attention. She wasn't left wanting, or waiting.

Gajeel's lips pursed and slid over her nipple alone, sucking slightly. Inside his mouth his tongue slid like a moist rasp across the tip, making her shiver and pant suddenly, her eyes finally closing.

As if released from captivity, Gajeel's eyes closed too and he moaned against her sensitive flesh. His mouth opened wider, sucking in more of her breast as he tasted her more fully. White teeth capable of crunching metal with ease settled lightly against the fragility of her skin, scraping just enough to elicit small moans of pleasure from her as he drew his mouth down the slope of her breast until just the tip remained. They both groaned loudly. Levy's back arched sharply as Gajeel's hands rose to support her weight and keep her within reach.

As if one, they drew back from each other, staring. With great deliberate movements that left her room to say no, Gajeel ran his hands up under her thighs and rose. Levy's legs moved around him and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, bringing their bare chests together.

He shuddered and she clung. Gajeel was surprised he could still walk as he carried this precious weight over to the bed. Instead of dropping her there, he knelt, settling her on the edge. His eyes asked a very important question that he couldn't bring himself to ask, in case she said no. His hands moved to the edges of her panties and waited.

Levy gave him a fatuous smile full of promise and even some gratitude for giving her space. She stood, letting him slowly draw her undergarment down her firm thighs to pool at her ankles. Gajeel growled with approval and leaned in, nuzzling her belly and drawing in the richness of her scent.

Levy's hands went to his thick hair, holding his face against her body as he bit her belly button before licking her there. "My turn." She whispered.

Gajeel drew back, and looked up between her breasts to her face. He trailed kisses up her body, stopping to lay homage to both breasts and then up to nuzzle her neck. He stopped only when he felt her hands on his hips.

The boxers he was wearing did nothing to hide his rather impressive erection. It was symbolic only at this point. The last vestige of armor between the two, a simple layer of thin cloth. She hesitated. He touched her chin, drawing her gaze up to meet his.

Levy tugged on the fabric, though it took very little to push the boxers down over his slim hips. They stood there, naked together, breathing in each other as they marveled at the moment.

He leaned in and she slipped back onto the bed, moving backwards as he approached on all fours until he was doing a push-up over her prone form. With devastating slowness he lowered his weight upon her, waiting and watching for any hint of distress or rejection. None came.

Levy sucked in a harsh gasp as she felt the line of bare skin pressing down on her. Her legs parted without thought as her legs wrapped around his hips on instinct alone, making room for him against her heated core.

"Fuck." Gajeel groaned, his head arching back at the feeling of acceptance.

She giggled and he gave her a glare. She crossed her eyes at him and stuck out her tongue. He nipped at that tongue making her squeal. He captured her wrists in his hands and drew her arms up over her head, raising a pierced brow at her dilemma as if asking her what next.

Levy undulated her hips and belly and Gajeel nearly lost it then and there, his own eyes almost crossing in reaction as he panted and shuddered against her. "Don't." He warned. "Are you ready?"

"I don't know." She said truthfully.

Gajeel reached down, shifting to one side and placing his hand on her belly. His fingers spread as he ran his hand downward. Levy closed her eyes, shaking her head side to side as she bit her lip. He hesitated, was she telling him to stop?

"Gajeel!"

He chuckled and his hand resumed, her voice had been needy, not rejecting. His fingers encountered soft curls, heat, and a fragrant moisture that tickled all of his senses. Her leg came up at the knee, planting itself on the mattress and pushing herself up toward his touch, seeking more.

Gajeel's fingers moved down lower and he was gratified to feel how slick and ready she was. For him. Only him. First? No. Possession reared up within him and he caught his breath at a memory of Metalicana lecturing him. Dragons mated for life. No one was sure about Dragonslayers, for they were a rare group and very young. His foster father had warned him though that once given his heart and body might not be for another. Maybe. Maybe not.

Levy groaned, her face and body flushed and needy, writhing under his touch. Gajeel grinned suddenly and moved atop of her, making her buck beneath him in demand. "Please …" She begged prettily, making him grin in anticipation.

Gajeel used one hand to position himself and then pushed hard, sliding in completely only to freeze as Levy's body spasmed around his and she screamed.

He was a fighter, a warrior. He knew pain when he heard it. Gajeel drew up, staring down in horror as Levy bit her lip and tried to catch her breath. "S….shrimp?"

"A minute. Give me a minute." She panted.

He didn't know if he had a minute. Her body was tight and hot and wet and squeezing him deliciously. His balls felt tight and his whole body ached. "Sweetheart? Babe? Are you alright?" He didn't ask if he should stop and wondered if that made him a jerk. Probably. He ground his teeth together and started to pull out.

She wrapped her legs around his hips, locking him in. Her hands moved to his back, rubbing up and down in a soothing manner.

"Levy?"

"Shhh. My first time." She said, wincing a bit as she adjusted the angle of her hips to better accommodate his rather large appendage.

"Mine too." He reminded her.

Levy cracked open one bronze eye as if to ask 'are you kidding me?' She saw his concern, and yes, fear. "You do know it hurts the first time, for women, right?"

Gajeel blinked slowly. He'd had no clue.

Levy chuckled, darkly amused despite her discomfort. "Try it now."

Gajeel pulled back slowly, making her back arch as she called out again, though this time with something far more sensual. Relieved he hesitated and instead of plunging back down like his body demanded, he forged ahead more slowly.

Levy moaned, flinching slightly but also with a purr in her voice. Relieved, Gajeel repeated the motion, feeling her body clench tightly around his and making him ache in the most delicious way possible. He meant to keep that pace, but in reality he couldn't manage. The pleasure grew and grew between them and his hips sped up despite his resolve to go slowly.

Levy arched beneath him, calling out his name over and over again as they moved together awkwardly at first and then building into a synchronicity that rapidly approached a crescendo. Suddenly she screamed again, though not in pain. It startled him as Levy's body convulsed around his erection, squeezing and milking him in a manner that had him losing control.

Gajeel buried his face in the crook of her neck, nearly bending in half to reach as his hips buried himself into her body one last time before the world exploded around him.

Levy held her lover, her fingers digging into the taut skin of his back as he pulsated within her. Sweat cooled between them as they held each other quietly, intimately. She petted him as they came back to themselves, running her hands up and down his back with her fingertips only.

Reluctantly, Gajeel stirred. "Can you breathe?" He worried about his weight on her slight form.

"Shut up. I'm still basking." She ordered, tugging on his hair to make her point.

He chuckled, making his body tingle some more, which turned his laughter into a moan of pleasure. "I'm too heavy for you."

"Not." She protested, but he was already moving to one side.

Her elbow dug into him. His knee banged her hip rather hard. She twisted and complained when something hard rolled beneath her. Gajeel reached around and pulled out a waxed pear and wondered how the hell it had gotten onto the bed. She reminded him he'd thrown it earlier. He denied it. She called him an idiot. He threw it back across the room. Awkwardly the new lovers moaned and moved until finally settling down, tugging the covers out from under them until they were finally wrapped up together. Gajeel held her back to his front, molding his body around the curve of her smaller one. Levy's feet slipped backwards, between his legs as she wiggled her bottom into the curve of his hips.

He growled and nipped at her ear as she laughed. Gajeel wrapped his large arm around her waist and cuddled his hand between her bare breasts, toying with the nipples.

Levy reached up and tried to move his hand away. "You're embarrassing me."

Gajeel shifted up and looked down at her face. "After everything we just did, THIS embarrasses you?"

Levy flushed and slapped his hand, which didn't budge. "Let me go." She groused.

"Never." He growled and settled back down behind her. "Get used to me holding you."

Levy heard the possessive tone in his voice and her nerves started to settle. He wasn't looking at this as a one-time deal and that suited her perfectly. One of her biggest fears was that once they'd slept together he'd lose interest. "So. I'm your first spoon." She laid claim.

"Spoon?" He yawned in her ear.

"The way we're laying, back to front. Spoon. What would you call it?"

Gajeel didn't think about it as he drifted off to sleep, completely and utterly relaxed and happy for the first time in …well, since his foster father had disappeared. "I call it perfect." He mumbled absently.

Levy blushed even as she listened to his breathing even out into sleep.


	10. Waking up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning. I expected more exposition this chapter, but the characters did not behave. Adult content below ....

Phen sneered as he plodded back up the stairs to the room he shared with his partner. The others were cowards, wanting to turn back in the face of success just because there were wizards on the premises. He, on the other hand, felt they had the upper hand. These two Fairy Tail members were in disguise, it was obvious. Yet it was also evident that they were a real couple, and that information gave the real clue on who they were. And married couples in love were excellent for holding hostage against each other's good behavior. He decided to detour past their door, just to check.

The dream wasn't a nightmare, just a jumbled mess of frustration as Levy stood on a dance floor and couldn't find Gajeel. The music was unfamiliar and she didn't know any of the steps. The other couples, including Juvia and Gray for some reason, moved smoothly across the floor. Levy knew she was dreaming because Gray wasn't protesting or trying to get away. Her problem was Gajeel and why he wasn't with her?

The sound of a toilet flushing followed by the sink turning on roused Levy just enough. She blinked her eyes open, but there was no light in the room save for what came in through the window from the night sky. The space next to her was empty, but still warm. Levy rolled into that space, liking the way it felt and smelled like Gajeel.

A twinge of soreness reminded her of what they'd been up to tonight. Levy felt no shame or regret, stretching like a cat as she waited. A moment later she was rewarded by the shadowy view of Gajeel walking back toward the bed completely naked.

The man was beautiful. Levy's breath caught as her eyes travelled the lines of his cut musculature. Each movement was grace and power and she took a perverse delight in seeing that part of him which had been inside her not that long ago. She hummed.

Caught lifting the sheet, Gajeel paused. "You awake, Shrimp?" He asked in a whisper.

Playing sleepy, Levy closed her eyes and didn't respond.

A soft snort, then she felt him climbing back into bed beside her. Oh, the delicious warmth of his skin next to hers.

"How can someone so tiny be a bed hog?" He grunted, carefully rolling her slightly so he could settle more comfortably.

Where he couldn't see, Levy smiled and let him shift her before making a sleepy protest noise.

"Sweetheart?"

Levy evened out her breathing as if still under, but she turned back to him and boldly threw an arm across his middle.

"Gihee."

Oh how she loved the sound of his deeply satisfied chuckle. It made her feel so feminine and strong, on top of the world. She nuzzled her face into his side and felt him flinch very, very slightly.

He wasn't any more used to sleeping beside someone than she was. He'd told her she was the first. That thought thrilled her beyond belief. No one. No one had shared intimacy with him like she was. No one had touched him like she had. No one ….her mind stalled. There had been no one.

Levy's brain raced, tracing down each errant thought with horror. No one. Gajeel had had no one before her. Not just for sex, but for those lovely friendly moments of life. No one had petted him, soothed him, held him. He'd been alone. What little Juvia had told them all about the Phantom Lord guild made Levy utterly miserable.

Yes, when Gajeel had attacked her it had been horrible and she'd thought him a monster. Knowing Natsu and his struggles since his dragon-father had vanished, if she applied the same thing to Gajeel it left her feeling dizzy and weepy. At least Natsu had found Fairy Tail. What had Gajeel found? No one.

A snuffle of sound must have escaped her as Gajeel tightened his arm around her. "Shorty? Are you crying in your sleep?"

No. That wouldn't do. Levy didn't want to 'wake up' in case he noticed that her eyes were ready to cry and were full of moisture. He wouldn't deal well with empathy, and might mistake her caring for pity. She did NOT want to have that happen. She needed to do something quickly.

While thinking her hand twitched, the one attached to the arm thrown across Gajeel. Her fingertips brushed his opposite hip just barely.

He went still for a moment, then blew out a hefty breath of air.

Levy's focused mind shifted in a new direction. She was sore. Was she too sore? No. With that she mumbled incoherently and shifted before suddenly relaxing back into 'sleep'. This made her fingers brush the skin of his hip just a tiny fraction more firmly.

Gajeel's knee bent, planting his foot on the bed in a defensive manner, blocking her hand from going lower. "Sweetheart?" He sounded rather hopeful that she was waking.

"Go back." She muttered as if dreaming.

She felt his hesitancy. "Who?" He asked, but she didn't answer him. "Damn it." He sighed. Then apparently he decided to try and see if she'd rouse for him. His hand started trailing his touch down her bare back. She shivered in spite of her resolve to play sleeping.

"Gihee." His chest rumbled with his quiet laughter. "C'mon my shy little darling."

Shy? Behind her eyelids Levy crossed her eyes at him, though her expression didn't change. She'd show him shy. Bravely daring in the middle of the night, she pulled her arm back across him, but only a few inches. Now her hand lay innocently in the notch between his thigh and groin. The fingers curled in the air, touching nothing, only the back of her hand making contact with his heated skin.

"Oh shit." She heard him breathe as he arched his neck a bit in response. "Just a little more, Levy, just a …"

Levy's hand twitched and she felt him catch his breath, right before she pulled it up to rest far more innocently on his chest. The perfect location to feel the stutter in his breathing while he cursed under his breath.

Gajeel was about to lose his fucking mind. Hot, sleepy, sexy Levy was devastating to his senses. He felt her shift slightly and looked down to see the ghost of a smile play out over her lips only to disappear. He frowned. Was she awake? Was she teasing him?!

Brilliant white teeth flashed with an evil grin. He'd have to find out. "Sweetheart, Shrimp-girl, I have something I'd like you to hold on to for me." He purred. Gently he covered her hand and guided it down his body to the growing erection starting to point upwards. "Wrap your hand around that."

Levy couldn't protest the move as she was supposed to be sleeping. His hand moved hers around his erection, then covered hers to hold it in place. Her mind about exploded. Yes, they'd had sex earlier, but she'd not held him! Not here. Not like this. Her breath caught. It was moving! Tightening, and yet so soft in her hand. She wanted nothing more than to sit up and watch as his body responded to her touch.

She was doing this to him. She made him hard and needy. He wanted her, wanted her touching him, holding him. Her hand tightened slightly and she was rewarded as he groaned loudly and arched into her hand, tightening even further.

"Bad idea, Gajeel." He said to himself. "You better be awake, Shorty."

Levy ran her thumb up and down against his flesh and his hips shot up off the bed while he panted. She stilled.

Gajeel took two attempts to wrap his hand around hers and show her how to move her grasp up, and then down in a pumping motion. "Stop playing, please darling."

Playing? Did he know she was awake? Was that the reason for his bold move? Levy licked her lips and decided on payback. Her hand pumped up and down twice and then she wrinkled her nose cutely. "Oh Gray, don't tell Juvia about this or she'd kill me."

Quicker than a lightning strike Levy found herself on her back and staring up into the furious face of her lover as he actually flashed some fangs. "Gray?" He roared.

She poked her tongue out at him.

Gajeel sat up, straddling her hips as he gave her a wide-eyed look of disbelief. "You dare?"

He watched as she nodded at him, not even a tiny bit scared of his towering jealousy. Gajeel moaned, running a hand over his face as he calmed down, his heartrate slowing.

"I win." She winked up at him.

"Bitch." He said fondly, then winced as she smacked him rather hard. "Sorry." He caught her hand and brought it to his mouth, giving her fingers a kiss. "But Gray?"

"Would you rather I said Natsu?" She asked, tongue in cheek.

He snorted and shook his head. Hesitantly, slowly, he paused. "Jet or Droy?"

"They're like my brothers." She shuddered at the thought.

He started to feel a lot better and he gave her a slow grin. "Elfman?"

"Evergreen would kill me!" She said and he laughed until she didn't join him.

Gajeel gave her a tilted-head look, spilling his long hair down the side of him. "Really?"

"Absolutely." She said of the mountain of muscle and the beautiful eye-magic mage. "In the month since Tenrou those two are hardly out of each other's line of sight."

"Same could be said of us." He shrugged.

Levy gave him a droll look out of her melted-bronze eyes. Gajeel suddenly gave her a stunned look. "Does that mean that you wanted …that you …."

Levy reached up and caught a handful of his rather wild hair, pulling him down towards her slightly. "Yes."

"Since when?" He breathed, his eyes earnest and strangely needy.

Levy didn't have an answer though. "I'm not sure exactly when, but you've always intrigued me. When you stepped in front of Laxus' attack. But also when you wouldn't fight back when Jet and Droy were giving you a rough time." She gave him a soft smile. "What about you?"

He blinked once, then twice, then shook his head grimly. Levy's head shot up and she stared at him in the eye. "Before that?" Her mind boggled. Before those moments she'd mentioned, they'd been enemy combatants. And she his prisoner. He'd hurt her.

Gajeel blushed and shook his head. She tightened her hold on his hair, going so far as to yank on the ends. "Gajeel….." She drew his name out in a drawl. "That's so wrong."

He pulled away from her. Not physically, but mentally. She could see and sense it. A sound of protest escaped her and she pulled harder on his hair, making him wince. "Don't shut me out."

Gingerly, he took hold of her hair right above where she held on with her death grip. He eased her hand loose and lost a few strands along the way. "Levy."

He didn't want to talk about it, that was clear. Levy gave him a betrayed look and he dropped his head, shaking it. "I'm not a good person. I wasn't."

Levy sat up under him, using his shoulders for balance as she stared into his face. "You are. And you didn't change. Meaning you always were, you just weren't living up to yourself then. Phantom Lord didn't let you be this Gajeel." She caressed his shoulders for emphasis. "You are a good person or I wouldn't want you so much."

As confessions go, it was a small one. Gajeel's red eyes lit up though and he leaned in, stealing a quick kiss of all pressure and possession. It left her panting and wanting more. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders. "Tell me."

"Hurting you was the job. I was good at my job."

Levy shook her head. "You threatened me with all types of violence, some of them very ugly. You carried through on none of that. You marked me, but not permanently. You humiliated me, but didn't kill me or ruin me forever with things so terrible they would cripple."

Gajeel winced.

"You are a better person than you give yourself credit for being." Levy said.

"Foolish woman." He muttered. "I wanted you even then. I didn't know why and it infuriated me. It angered me that Jet and Droy would follow you anywhere. I gave them opportunities to run and they wouldn't abandon you and I hated you for their love. I didn't understand how anyone could inspire all of that and be worth it."

Levy blinked at him and his rough words.

"Forget it." Gajeel said morosely, moving off of her with a closed off expression.

"Wait!" Levy called out, but her ignored her and walked bare-assed into the bathroom. A moment later the shower turned on.

Levy McGarden was good at thinking through problems, except her own. She moaned and threw herself back onto the bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling. She held one hand up in the air, with one finger extended. "He's an ass." The second finger rose. "He's a good guy beneath it all." Third finger. "He hurt me." Fourth. "He took a major blow to protect me." She closed her fist and stuck her thumb straight up. She said nothing.

"Well?"

The deep grumble of his voice had her looking over toward the open bathroom door, where Gajeel was leaning cockily against the frame and staring at her. He was still nude and the shower was still running. He was completely dry, haven't having gotten in yet.

"Is there a verdict?"

Levy considered his face, his stance, his tension. He looked ready to fight. His red eyes were intense and focused on her, his fists were clenched though his arms were across his chest. What she did now was of utmost importance.

Levy rolled to her knees and knee-walked across the bed toward him. He tensed even more, as if preparing for a blow. Her eyes never left his as she boldly stood and fought against every instinct she had not to cover her nudity.

"Go back to bed, Shrimp. You're blushing hot enough to fry an egg." He said, not relaxing, but no longer as terribly brittle.

Levy ignored him and walked right up to him, then slowly raising a finger and putting it dead center of his chest as he dropped his arms for her. She pushed. He blinked and didn't move. Levy pushed again, harder this time. Gajeel chose to step back and let her by him.

She might have lost her nerve at this point, except she caught sight of his red eyes following her in the reflection of the bathroom mirror. His gaze was on her ass and there was a look of admiration and heated desire all mixed with a terrible longing. Levy about melted as she turned and gestured for him to get into the shower.

"You getting in with me?" He asked lasciviously, but then when she nodded at him he gaped at her in shock. She laughed at him, her humor throaty and sensual and damned if the big man didn't shiver all over. She loved that.

Gajeel gestured for her to enter the large stall first. Levy reckoned the shower was built for couples as this resort catered to lovers and newlyweds. It was spacious with wonderful water pressure, the steam already fogging the area. She snagged a washcloth and started soaping it up.

Gajeel entered behind her, pulling the door shut. "Aw Short-cake, you're really gonna bathe?" He mock-complained as he spied the sudsy washcloth. After that he had no breath for speaking as she wrapped it, and her hand, around his penis. Their fight had taken the starch out of it, but her touch sent blood skyrocketing back in a hurry. Gajeel wasn't sure he'd ever gotten so erect so fast in all his life. He actually had to brace himself against the two walls with his hands to keep from falling.

She held him, watching as his eyes slowly cleared and began to focus once more. When he licked his lips and gave her a cautious look, she slowly pumped her fist up and down in the manner he'd shown her earlier. His knees buckled and his head lolled back against her sensual onslaught. "Levy." Her name was a plea full of adoration and need.

"I know you, Gajeel. I see you. I know who you were and who you are. There are things you've not told me, but never doubt that I know what I'm doing and I choose to be here." On that last word she drew her hand down to the tip of him, running the washcloth over the broad head of his erection.

Gajeel couldn't help himself. He reached down and whipped the cloth out of the way of her grasp. She was holding him now, nothing between them. She blinked and he grinned.

"Naughty." She chuckled, then stilled. Her fingers rolled the crown of his erection as she discovered something she hadn't expected.

Slowly Gajeel began to grin, then to laugh, all at the shocked expression on her face.

"It IS pierced!" She whispered, looking down at the three small studs decorating the tip rising up eagerly toward her. "Didn't that hurt?"

The Dragonslayer hissed as she fingered each one of the piercings with awe and curiosity. Her touch wasn't practiced or meant to entice, but it nearly blew his head off. Both of them.

He reached between them, blocking her hands for a moment as he fought to catch his breath. "I'll explode all over you if you don't watch out." He warned. "And couldn't you tell I was pierced down there when we were doing it earlier?"

Levy's blush intensified as she shook her head. "I've never felt, I've never done that with anyone and couldn't tell one way or the other. It was all new."

Gajeel's humor faded into something intimate and heated. Steam wafted around them as he wrapped his hands around both sides of her face and brought her in for a kiss as he leaned down into her space. Her hands flattened on his chest, then glided around to his broad back. Her fingers dug into his muscles as his lips teased hers open. "Let's go back to bed." He whispered hoarsely. "I'm clean enough."

"I'm not." She protested with a laugh that sounded breathy. "Let me find that washcloth. Oh!" Levy felt herself turned, her rear to his front. His hard erection pressing against the small of her back. Gajeel didn't bother with finding the dropped washcloth. He soaped his hands and then slid them down her belly to her thighs.

Levy couldn't believe how wonton she was behaving as her legs parted for him without any protest at all. Her head rested against his chest as she closed her eyes and moaned, lost in the sensation of his firm hands washing her thighs and other intimate things.

His fingers made quick work of washing her, then slowed as he began to explore more thoroughly. Levy bit her lip as one long finger slid upward and parted her sensitive flesh, then two. The motion of his fingers caught something between them that made her knees tremble and shake. He chuckled and repeated the motion. One finger slid inside and both of them moaned. When the second finger joined in, Levy winced and moaned a bit, pulling up and away.

Gajeel frowned. "Sweetheart?"

"Just a bit sore." She panted. "Keep going."

"I don't want to hurt you …"

Sweet little Levy McGarden who barely topped out at his chest growled low, deep, and very, very mean. "Stop now and you die."

Gajeel blinked, then grinned. "Yes, ma'am." He swept her up in his arms, ignoring her squealed protest as this put her directly under the spray of the shower. He turned and let the water run down him too. With that he stepped out and let her legs go, holding her until she found her balance. He wrapped her in a large, fluffy towel and roughly wiped her down, kneeling as he did so.

Levy screamed and grabbed his head as he nipped at her belly with a sneer full of dark promise. He turned serious and licked down below her belly button until she tugged on his hair, bringing his head back up. He looked up her body, judging her expression and deciding not to push the issue, not yet. He'd get there eventually.

Rising, Gajeel stopped to pay homage to her sensitive breasts, making her scream. He loved it. He reached round her and lifted. Levy's legs wrapped around him as he carried her back to the bed, laying her down carefully. "One day, I want to taste you." He whispered.

Levy gave him a look of shock but he could tell she was also intrigued. "And I want my taste on your tongue." He laughed as she groaned and looked mortified he'd say such a thing aloud. Gajeel delighted in teasing her with sexy and very naughty suggestions.

"I thought I was your first!" She wailed after he mentioned something she'd not even read about.

The Dragonslayer laughed darkly. "Men talk." He said vaguely. Just to torment her he reached down for himself, pumping once to find some moisture leaking from him. He brought the potent drop up to her mouth.

Levy clamped her lips shut, shaking her head wildly, though her mind was burning up with the very idea. He rubbed the thick liquid on her bottom lip as she gave him a good glare. It didn't take long, her pink little tongue came out and licked her lips very lightly. Her bronze eyes widened as he took advantage and slipped his finger into her mouth.

Levy hesitated then finally touched him with her tongue. Gajeel's eyes were nearly smoking as he felt that first tentative touch. Before long she began to suck on his finger and his mind nearly melted. He swallowed hard and looked down at her. "I know you're sore …"

Levy answered by spreading her legs wider and letting his hips settle more firmly in the cradle formed there. It was all the invitation he needed.

Levy winced but did not cry out as Gajeel slid deeply into her body, laying claim. She laid her own claim on him, wrapping him tightly in her embrace as he began to move within her.

He was hers. This very complicated man. Her mouth opened and she set her teeth on his shoulder, not biting at first but scraping along lightly. His hips sped up when she didn't protest or push him away. Indeed the soreness was nothing compared to the pleasure building up within her. She pulsed with it.

Levy held on tightly, never wanting the moment to end. But pleasure like that couldn't last. The peak built between them but then erupted as Gajeel gave a very masculine and loud shout of victory and completion. Levy's own small shriek blended right in.

In the hall outside, a certain someone smiled. The yells from inside the room were all the confirmation he needed. Plans could be set in motion now.


End file.
